OXIDE GLASSES FOR FAST PHOTONIC SWITCHING - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY

New developments involving nonlinear optical effects are conditioned by the improvement of pertinent figures of merit involving the characteristics of nonlinear optical materials within the "transparency" regime of their optic windows. This paper discusses, from a global standpoint, the maximum values of nonlinear refractive index n2, and of its ratio n2/alpha relative to intrinsic attenuation alpha, attainable for a multicomponent oxide glass. It also locates and analyses those classes of multicomponent oxide glass that, from the standpoint of these two measures, appear to be the most promising candidates for use as fast photonic switching elements in the 1-2.5-mu-m wavelength regime.