Nonresonant third-order nonlinearity of antimony glasses at telecom wavelengths

Abstract

We report measurements of the nonresonant nonlinear refractive index n2 in antimony glasses at telecom wavelengths. The measurements were performed using the Z-scan technique with a 130fs pulsed laser operating at five wavelengths in the range of 1400–1600nm. Values of n2≈10−15cm2∕W were measured and a negligible two-photon absorption coefficient (<0.003cm∕GW) was estimated for all glasses compositions. The samples present a good figure of merit for ultrafast all-optical switching.