Optical Nonlinearities in Chalcogenide Glasses and their Applications / Edition 1

by A. Zakery, S.R. Elliott

Overview

Photonics, which uses photons for information and image processing, is labeled as one of the technologies of the 21st century, for which nonlinear op- cal processes provide the key functions of frequency conversion and optical switching. Chalcogenide glasses are based on the chalcogen elements S, Se, and Te. These glasses are formed by the addition of other elements such as Ge, As, Sb, Ga, etc. These glasses are low-phonon energy materials and are generally transparent from the visible to infrared. Chalcogenide glasses can be doped by rare-earth elements such as Er, Nd, Pr, etc., and hence numerous applications of active optical devices have been proposed. These glasses are optically highly nonlinear and could therefore be useful for all-optical switching. This book is a review of recent progress in the science and technology of chalcogenide glasses, with an emphasis on their nonlinear optical properties, for graduate students, practising engineers and scientists from a wide multidisciplinary area such as physics, chemistry, electrical engineering and material science. Since the interest in this area is growing worldwide, a book dealing with this subject will be of great value to researchers of varied backgrounds. Chalcogenide glasses and their electronic, structural, and photoinduced properties are introduced. Techniques to characterize the linear and nonlinear optical properties of these glasses are introduced and used to measure the optical constants of chalcogenide glasses in the form of bulk, thin film and fiber. The possibilities of fabricating passive and active devices are presented.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783540710660
Publisher:	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publication date:	08/08/2007
Series:	Springer Series in Optical Sciences , #135
Edition description:	2007
Pages:	202
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

An Introduction to Chalcogenide Glasses.- Basic Concepts of Nonlinear Optics.- Experimental Techniques to Measure Nonlinear Optical Constants.- Measurement of Nonlinear Optical Constants.- Optical Nonlinearities in Chalcogenide Fibres.- Optical Switching in Chalcogenide Glasses.- Issues and Future Directions.