Ultrafast carrier dynamics in modified semiconductor-doped glass

The recombination lifetime in CdSx Se1-x semiconductor-doped glass was measured by time-resolved photoluminescence. It was found that long-term exposure of the glass to high-intensity laser pulses produced a permanent reduction of the free-carrier lifetime from 80 ps to less than 10 ps. This change could be reversed by thermal annealing and should have applications to ultrafast optical signal processing