Nonlinearity of refractive index in glasses based on heavy metal oxides with different lead and tellurium contents

Abstract

We have studied the nonlinearity of the refractive index at a wavelength of 1.08 µm for optical lead silicate and lead phosphate tellurite glasses of different compositions. We have shown that the nonlinear refractive index n2 increases as the lead content increases in lead silicate glasses and as the tellurium content increases in lead phosphate tellurite glasses, where the latter are typically have higher values of n2, as high as 24·10−13 cgs units (47·10−16 cm2/W), and lower Rayleigh losses. We have established a correlation between the nonlinear refractive index and the microstructure of the studied glasses. The highly nonlinear glasses are distinguished by extensive fluctuations in the heavy metal oxide concentration which are “frozen” during cooling of the glass melt.