Chalcogenide glasses from (GeSe 2 ) 100-x (Sb 2 Se 3 ) x system were synthesized, with x varying from 5 to 70, in order to evaluate the influence of antimony selenide addition on nonlinear optical properties and photosensitivity. Nonlinear refractive index and two photon absorption coefficients were measured both at 1064 nm in picosecond regime using the Z-scan technique and at 1.55 µm in femtosecond regime using an original method based on direct analysis of beam profile change while propagating in the chalcogenide glasses. The study of their photosensitivity at 1.55 m revealed highly glass composition dependent behavior and quasi-photostable compositions have been identified in femtosecond regime. To better understand these characteristics, the evolution of the glass transition temperature, density and structure with the chemical composition were determined.

International audienceBrillouin scattering is a fundamental nonlinear interaction between two optical waves and an acoustic wave mediated by electrostriction and photoelasticity. In this paper, we revisit the usual theory of this inelastic scattering to get a joint system in which the acoustic wave is strongly coupled to the interference pattern between the optical waves. We show in particular that when the coupling rate exceeds the phonon damping rate, the system enters the strong-coupling regime, giving rise to anticrossing in the dispersion relation and Rabi-like splitting. We further find numerically that strong coupling can, in principle, be observed using backward Brillouin scattering in subwavelength-diameter optical waveguides

Abstract:The distributed Brillouin gain profile of an ultrathin optical microwire made of chalcogenide-glass is characterized using a phase-modulated correlation-domain measurement technique. Method resolves variations of uniformity below 5% along a 13 cm-long microwire.