Plasma-expansion induced absorption and refraction changes in ZnSe epilayers

A novel transient-grating technique with a well-defined and moveable optical probe is used to investigate the spatial extent of any optical changes arising from optically-driven electron-hole plasma expansion in molecular-beam-epitaxially grown ZnSe. We present experimental data demonstrating that optically-driven plasma expansion does not extend significantly beyond the originally excited area when pumped to carrier densities appropriate to lasing action in these materials (10¹⁸cm^-3). © 2000 Taylor & Francis Ltd.