Nonlinear optical transmission induced by large transient electric field enhancements in photoconductive zinc selenide switches

We report our investigation on photoconductive power switching using polycrystalline zinc selenide with transparent liquid electrolytic electrodes. Nonlinear optical transmission which is due to high internal electric fields of this switch under moderate biases was observed. From the optical transmission measurements, large and fast electric field variations inside the switch were deduced. Electric field compression inside the switch, which can be attributed to the switch geometry and the electro-absorption effect, was responsible for the observed large optical absorption. Our model provided explanations for these observations.< >