高非线性硫系玻璃开发及其理论研究进展

Advance on the Exploration and Evaluation of Highly Nonlinear Chalcogenide Glasses

早在20世纪50年代开始,硫系玻璃由于具有宽红外透明波段和高折射率的特殊性质而引起了研究者们的浓厚兴趣,尤其是含Te元素硫系玻璃的红外透过截止波长可达到18μm的远红外区域,开发出的硫系玻璃材料在远红外传感、CO2激光能量的传输、生物传感、外太空生命探测等方面有了广泛应用。除了在传统红外能量传输及成像等方面的应用,近年来硫系玻璃由于其超高的非线性、超短的响应时间而成为光开关、超连续光源、拉曼增益等非线性光学应用的最佳候选材料。总结了当前主流硫系玻璃的非线性特性及其应用,并在分析玻璃组分与其三阶非线性高低关系基础上比较了当前主流的三个系列硫系玻璃非线性的理论分析和预测模型,介绍了一种最广泛的Z扫描非线性测试方法。对更高非线性硫系材料开发存在的问题及下一步的研究方向进行了展望。

As early as 1950 s, chalcogenide glasses have aroused the interest of researchers for their special properties of broad infrared transmission band and high refractive index, especially the Te-based chalcogenide glasses whose infrared transparent wavelength can reach up to 18 μm. They may be widely applied in far infrared sensor, CO2 laser energy transmission, biosensor and alien life detection. In addition to the applications in the traditional transmission of infrared energy and infrared imaging, chalcogenide glasses also become the best candidate materials for optical switch, super-continuum sources and Raman gain applications, due to their ultra-high nonlinearity and ultra-short response time. It summarizes the nonlinear properties and applications of the common chalcogenide glasses and compares three theoretical models for chalcogenide glasses nonlinearity analysis. And then describes the most popular test method for chalcogenide glasses nonlinearity, the Z-scanning method. Prospection is given for the exploration of higher nonlinear chalcogenide materials and future directions for research.