Abstract
We experimentally investigated the third-order nonlinear optical response of absolute ethanol around 1550 nm. The real and imaginary parts of third-order susceptibilities are distinguished by Z-scan method, which demonstrated that absolute ethanol exhibited saturable absorption and self-defocusing behaviors with nonlinear refractive index n 2∼−10−14 m2/W. In addition, the experimental results via self-phase modulation method also verified the comparable nonlinear optical response of absolute ethanol. This work is expected to provide insights for the nonlinearities of organic solvents, and may broaden the potential of cost-effective nonlinear optoelectronic devices.
Highlights
Nonlinear optical effects are playing an increasingly important role in optical communication devices and systems around 1550 nm, corresponding to the low-loss window of silica-based optical fibers [1]
The real and imaginary parts of third-order susceptibilities are distinguished by Z-scan method, which demonstrated that absolute ethanol exhibited saturable absorption and self-defocusing behaviors with nonlinear refractive index n2∼−10−14 m2/W
As for the optical fibers, the lowest-order nonlinear effects originate from the third-order susceptibility, which can result in the intensity-dependent refractive index variation and various nonlinear optical effects, such as self-phase modulation (SPM), cross-phase modulation (XPM), four-wave mixing (FWM), etc [2]
Summary
Nonlinear optical effects are playing an increasingly important role in optical communication devices and systems around 1550 nm, corresponding to the low-loss window of silica-based optical fibers [1]. With the emerging materials and evolving technologies, different optical materials have exhibited excellent nonlinear performance for signal processing in the optical communication band [3]–[6]. Different solvents have been investigated to exhibit negligible or small nonlinear optical response within the concerned visible or near-infrared wavelength regime [10]. We have experimentally investigated the third-order nonlinear optical behavior of absolute ethanol in optical communication band via Z-scan technique, spatial self-phase modulation (SSPM) and spectral broadening methods. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first example of ethanol with self-defocusing around 1550 nm. Our experimental results provide evidence that absolute ethanol is a potential nonlinear medium can be useful in nonlinear optical devices and ultrafast photonics
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