7 - Nonlinear photonics in glasses

Abstract

Due to their high optical transparency and chemical/thermal stability, glasses with difference chemical compositions have been the most important optical materials used by human society. While glasses without any optical centers are widely used to fabricate mirrors and lens, the intrinsic nonlinear optical (NLO) response of most optical glasses is inherently weak. Generally, the NLO response of glasses can be enhanced by judicious selection of the components and by the incorporation of optically active ions or nanoparticles. In this chapter, we discuss the recent advances in the fabrication and characterization of photonic glasses with enhanced NLO response, which could be realized by the precipitation of functional nanoparticles. The incorporation of these NLO nanoparticles, such as SHG nanocrystals and plasmonic nanoparticles, leads to a large enhancement in either absorptive or refractive NLO response, endowing glasses with strong second harmonic generation or higher-order optical nonlinearity that are otherwise weak for the glass matrix. The NLO response in glasses has been exploited for applications in diverse areas, as exemplified in this chapter by the measurement of ultrafast pulse duration, saturable absorbers for pulse generation and volumetric full-color display. In the end of this chapter, we summarize the recent progresses as well as the remaining challenges that are to be surmounted in the future in the field of nonlinear photonic glasses.