Nonlinear optical properties of integrated GeSbS chalcogenide waveguides

Abstract

In this paper, we report the experimental characterization of highly nonlinear GeSbS chalcogenide glass waveguides.We used a single-beam characterization protocol that accounts for the magnitude and sign of the real and imaginary parts of the third-order nonlinear susceptibility of integrated Ge 23 Sb 7 S 70 (GeSbS) chalcogenide glass waveguides in the near-infrared wavelength range at λ 1580 nm.We measured a waveguide nonlinear parameter of 7.0 0.7 W -1 • m -1 , which corresponds to a nonlinear refractive index of n 2 0.93 0.08 × 10 -18 m 2 ∕W, comparable to that of silicon, but with an 80 times lower two-photon absorption coefficient β TPA 0.010 0.003 cm∕GW, accompanied with linear propagation losses as low as 0.5 dB/cm.The outstanding linear and nonlinear properties of GeSbS, with a measured nonlinear figure of merit FOM TPA 6.0 1.4 at λ 1580 nm, ultimately make it one of the most promising integrated platforms for the realization of nonlinear functionalities.