Transparent niobate glass‐ceramics for optical limiting

Abstract

Abstract The construction of nonlinear optical materials featuring asymmetric transmission of light is of great technological importance for various applications, including optical switching and optical power limiting. A significant challenge is the scalable fabrication of material candidates with good photochemical stability, high optical transmittance, and excellent optical limiting performance. Here, we present a nanocrystallization avenue for constructing hybrid optical limiting materials that exhibit ultrafast and robust optical limiting performance. The experimental results show that the controllable relaxation of a niobate glass may lead to the clustering of Nb‐O units and contracting of the bandgap. It results in the notable improvement in nonlinear optical properties, including the enhanced saturation irradiance (380 GW /cm 2 ), doubly increased nonlinear coefficient, and decreased limiting threshold (200 GW /cm 2 ). Our results suggest a promising material that exhibits promising applications for protecting eyes and sensitive components from laser‐induced damage.