Abstract

Indium tin oxide (ITO)-based sandwich structures with the insertion of silver (ITO/Ag/ITO) show large nonlinear optical enhancement of both nonlinear refraction and saturable absorption. Here optical nonlinearity is measured using a Z-scan experiment with a 1310nm pulsed laser at normal incidence. The nonlinear refractive index (n2=15.43×10-16 m2/W) for an ITO/Ag/ITO sandwich with a 14nm silver interlayer and the nonlinear absorption coefficient (β=-648×10-11 m/W) for an ITO/Ag/ITO sandwich with a 10nm silver interlayer are about 18 and 16 times greater than that of a single-layer ITO, respectively. Meanwhile, a large figure of merit and modulation depth values hinted that ITO/Ag/ITO sandwiches are promising saturable absorber materials to switch continuous laser waves into laser pulses. These novel nonlinear optical properties make ITO/Ag/ITO sandwiches a promising candidate for all-optical modulation devices at optical communication wavelengths.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.