Third-order nonlinear optical properties and ultrafast optical switching of chalcogenide glasses

Third-harmonic generation (THG), optical Kerr shutter (OKS) and degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) measurements clarified third-order nonlinear optical properties of chalcogenide glasses. We studied the dependence of third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility measured by THG method on refractive index and absorption edge wavelength of glasses. It was shown that the larger susceptibility increased with increasing refractive index absorption edge wavelength, thereby producing the maximum susceptibility of 1.4 x 10(-11)esu. We also found that the susceptibilities determined by THG and OKS methods almost coincided within the range of experimental errors. The chalcogenide glass provided the twice OKS transmittance of the conventional carbon disulfide. The DFWM experiment indicated that high-speed switching operation was attainable with the chalcogenide glasses. This value was compared with the bismuth containing oxide glasses.