Low-power-threshold photonic saturable absorber in nonlinear chalcogenide glass

Stefano Minardi (1) , Ciro d'Amico (2) , Guanghua Cheng (2, 3) , Razvan Stoian (2)

1 Friedrich-Schiller-Universität = Friedrich Schiller University Jena [Jena, Germany]
2 LHC - Laboratoire Hubert Curien
3 State Key Laboratory of Transient Optics and Photonics,

We experimentally demonstrate controllable nonlinear modulation of optical guiding in ultrafast laser-written evan- escently coupled waveguide arrays in bulk gallium lanthanum sulfide chalcogenide glass. The intensity-dependent response is validated by simulating light propagation in waveguide arrays with instantaneous Kerr nonlinearity using a discrete continuous spatiotemporal unidirectional Maxwell equation model. The intensity-driven modulation of transmission in multicore structures acts as a potential saturable absorber at kilowatt threshold levels

Mots clés: Ultrafast phenomena; Laser materials processing; Waveguides

Domaines: Optique / photonique

Stefano Minardi, Ciro d'Amico, Guanghua Cheng, Razvan Stoian. Low-power-threshold photonic saturable absorber in nonlinear chalcogenide glass. Optics Letters, 2015, 40 (2), pp.257. ⟨10.1364/OL.40.000257⟩. ⟨ujm-01102355⟩