Two-wave interaction of nanosecond laser pulses in CdTe crystals and the origin of their nonlinearity

An investigation was made of the formation of photorefractive gratings in CdTe crystals with an enhanced carrier (electron) mobility μ = 500 cm² V^–1 s^–1 when they were excited by nanosecond light pulses. The photorefractive effect was separated in its pure form from the background of various nonlinear optical phenomena such as two-photon absorption, generation of nonequilibrium free carriers, and self-interaction of laser beams. The nature of the competing nonlinearity mechanisms was analysed.