Variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry and its applications in determining optical constants of chalcogenide glasses in infrared

The principle of variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry(VASE) and the data analysis models, as well as the applications of VASE in the characterization of chalcogenide bulk glasses and thin films are reviewed. By going through the literature and summarizing the application scopes of various analysis models, it is found that a combination of various models, rather than any single data analysis model, is ideal to characterize the optical constants of the chalcogenide bulk glasses and thin films over a wider wavelength range. While the reliable optical data in the mid-and far-infrared region are limited, the VASE is flexible and reliable to solve the issues, making it promising to characterize the optical properties of chalcogenide glasses.

The First Sharp Diffraction Peak in the Total Structure Function of Amorphous Chalcogenide Glasses: Anomalous Characteristics and Controversial Views

Anomalous structural characteristics of the so-called first sharp diffraction peak (FSDP) that arises in the total static structure functions of network-forming glasses and liquids at around 1-2 A-1 have been reviewed and discussed in details. Unlike other peaks in the static structure functions, the FSDP has anomalous dependencies on temperature, pressure and composition. Despite the fact that the FSDP is considered as a signature of intermediate range order (IRO) in network-forming glasses and liquids, its structural origin remains unclear and till now, it forms a subject of debate. A brief account for some anomalous characteristics of the FSDP followed by the different controversial interpretations about its structural origin has been reviewed and discussed. Some of the interpretations that seem to be inconsistent with recent experimental results have been ruled out. The most likely structural origins for the occurrence of the FSDP have been highlighted and discussed in details.

Flexible one-dimensional photonic crystal films composed of chalcogenide glass and water-soluble polymer for curvature sensing

Curvature sensing plays an important role in structural health monitoring,damage detection,real-time shape control,modification,etc.Developing curvature sensors with large measurement ranges,high sensitivity,and linearity remains a major challenge.In this study,a curvature sensor based on flexible one-dimensional photonic crystal(1D-PC)films was proposed.The flexible 1D-PC films composed of dense chalcogenide glass and water-soluble polymer materials were fabricated by solution processing.The flexible 1D-PC film curvature sensor has a wide measurement range of 33-133 m-1and a maximum sensitivity of0.26 nm/m^(-1).The shift of the transmission peak varies approximately linearly with the curvature in the entire measurement range.This kind of 1D-PC film curvature sensor provides a new idea for curvature sensing and measurement.

Chip-scale broadband spectroscopic chemical sensing using an integrated supercontinuum source in a chalcogenide glass waveguide

On-chip spectroscopic sensors have attracted increasing attention for portable and field-deployable chemical detection applications. So far, these sensors largely rely on benchtop tunable lasers for spectroscopic interrogation. Large footprint and mechanical fragility of the sources, however, preclude compact sensing system integration. In this paper, we address the challenge through demonstrating, for the first time to our knowledge, a supercontinuum source integrated on-chip spectroscopic sensor, where we leverage nonlinear Ge_(22)Sb_(18)Se_(60) chalcogenide glass waveguides as a unified platform for both broadband supercontinuum generation and chemical detection. A home-built, palm-sized femtosecond laser centering at 1560 nm wavelength was used as the pumping source. Sensing capability of the system was validated through quantifying the optical absorption of chloroform solutions at 1695 nm. This work represents an important step towards realizing a miniaturized spectroscopic sensing system based on photonic chips.

Deep machine learning unravels the structural origin of mid-gap states in chalcogenide glass for high-density memory integration

The recent development of three-dimensional semiconductor integration technology demands a key component-the ovonic threshold switching(OTS)selector to suppress the current leakage in the high-density memory chips.Yet,the unsatisfactory performance of existing OTS materials becomes the bottleneck of the industrial advancement.The sluggish development of OTS materials,which are usually made from chalcogenide glass,should be largely attributed to the insufficient understanding of the electronic structure in these materials,despite of intensive research in the past decade.Due to the heavy first-principles computation on disordered systems,a universal theory to explain the origin of mid-gap states(MGS),which are the key feature leading to the OTS behavior,is still lacking.To avoid the formidable computational tasks,we adopt machine learning method to understand and predict MGS in typical OTS materials.We build hundreds of chalcogenide glass models and collect major structural features from both short-range order(SRO)and medium-range order(MRO)of the amorphous cells.After training the artificial neural network using these features,the accuracy has reached~95%when it recognizes MGS in new glass.By analyzing the synaptic weights of the input structural features,we discover that the bonding and coordination environments from SRO and particularly MRO are closely related to MGS.The trained model could be used in many other OTS chalcogenides after minor modification.The intelligent machine learning allows us to understand the OTS mechanism from vast amount of structural data without heavy computational tasks,providing a new strategy to design functional amorphous materials from first principles.

High-Q ring resonators directly written in As2S3 chalcogenide glass films

Planar ring resonator waveguides are fabricated in thin films of As2S3 chalcogenide glass,deposited on silicaon-silicon substrates.Waveguide cores are directly written by scanning the focused illumination of a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser at a central wavelength of 810 nm,through a two-photon photo-darkening process.A large photoinduced index change of 0.3–0.4 refractive index units is obtained.The radius of the ring resonator is 1.9 mm,corresponding to a transmission free spectral range of 9.1 GHz.A high loaded（intrinsic） Q value of 110,000（180,000） is achieved.The thermal dependence of the resonator transfer function is characterized.The results provide the first report,to the best of our knowledge,of directly written high-Q ring resonators in chalcogenide glass films,and demonstrate the potential of this simple technique towards the fabrication of planar lightguide circuits in these materials.

Chalcogenide Glass for Passive Infrared Applications

Chalcogenide glass fibers have been successfully used for remote spectroscopy, temperature sensing and CO2 laser power delivery. In bulk form, chalcogenide glass is the most promising candidate for replacing the expensive germanium lenses for thermal imaging.

Nonlinear Integrated Optical Waveguides in Chalcogenide Glasses

This paper reports on the study and measurement of the third order optical nonlinearity in bulk sulfide-based chalcogenide glasses; The fabrication process of the ultrafast laser deposited As-S-(Se)-based chalcogenide films and optical waveguides using two techniques: wet chemistry etching and plasma etching.

Glass formation and physical properties of Sb_(2)S_(3)–CuI chalcogenide system

Novel chalcogenide glasses of pseudo-binary(100-x)Sb_(2)S_(3-x)CuI systems were synthesized by traditional meltquenching method.The glass-forming region of Sb_(2)S_(3)-CuI system was determined ranging from x=30 mol% to 40 mol%.CuI acts as a non-bridging modifier to form appropriate amount of [SbSI] structural units for improving the glass-forming ability of Sb_(2)S_(3).Particularly,as-prepared glassy sample is able to transmit light beyond 14 μm,which is the wider transparency region than most sulfide glasses.Their physical properties,including Vickers hardness(Hv),density(ρ),and ionic conductivity(σ) were characterized and analyzed with the compositional-dependent Raman spectra.These experimental results would provide useful knowledge for the development of novel multi-spectral optical materials and glassy electrolytes.

Time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy of charge carrier dynamics in the chalcogenide glass As_(30)Se_(30)Te_(40)[Invited]

Broadband(1.6–18 THz) terahertz time-domain spectroscopy(THz-TDS) and time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy(TRTS) were performed on a 54 μm thick chalcogenide glass(As_(30)Se_(30)Te_(40)) sample with a two-color laser-induced air plasma THz system in transmission and reflection modes, respectively. Two absorption bands at 2–3 and 5–8 THz were observed. TRTS reveals an ultrafast relaxation process of the photoinduced carrier response, well described by a rate equation model with a finite concentration of mid-bandgap trap states for self-trapped excitons.The photoinduced conductivity can be well described by the Drude–Smith conductivity model with a carrier scattering time of 12–17 fs, and we observe significant carrier localization effects. A fast refractive index change was observed 100 fs before the conductivity reached its maximum, with 2 orders of magnitude larger amplitude than expected for the optically induced THz Kerr effect, indicating that free carriers are responsible for the transient index change.

Generation of mid-infrared supercontinuum by designing circular photonic crystal fiber

A circular photonic crystal fiber(C-PCF)based on As2 Se3 is designed,which has three zero dispersion wavelengths and flat dispersion.Using this fiber,a wide mid-infrared supercontinuum(MIR-SC)can be generated by launching a femtosecond pulse in the first anomalous dispersion region.The simulation results show that the MIR-SC is formed by soliton self-frequency shift and direct soliton spectrum tunneling on the long wavelength side and self-phase modulation,soliton fission on the short wavelength side.Further,optical shocking and four-wave mixing(FWM)are not conducive to the long-wavelength extension of MIR-SC,while the number and intensity of fundamental solitons have a greater effect on the short-wavelength extension of MIR-SC.The generation of optical shocking waves,FWM waves and fundamental solitons can be obviously affected by changing the fiber length and input pulse parameters,so that the spectrum range and flatness can be adjusted with great freedom.Finally,under the conditions of 4000 W pulse peak power,30 fs pulse width,47 mm fiber length,and 0 initial chirp,a wide MIR-SC with a coverage range of 2.535μm-16.6μm is obtained.These numerical results are encouraging because they demonstrate that the spread of MIR-SC towards the red and blue ends can be manipulated by choosing the appropriate incident pulse and designing optimized fiber parameters,which contributes to applications in such diverse areas as spectroscopy,metrology and tomography.

Thermo-mechanical dynamics of nanoimprinting anti-reflective structures onto small-core mid-IR chalcogenide fibers [Invited]

Thermal nanoimprinting is a fast and versatile method for transferring the anti-reflective properties of subwavelength nanostructures onto the surface of highly reflective substrates, such as chalcogenide glass optical fiber end faces. In this paper, the technique is explored experimentally on a range of different types of commercial and custom-drawn optical fibers to evaluate the influence of geometric design, core/cladding material, and thermo-mechanical properties. Up to32.4% increased transmission and 88.3% total transmission are demonstrated in the 2–4.3 μm band using a mid-infrared(IR) supercontinuum laser.

Flexible omnidirectional reflective film for CO_(2)laser protection

In this Letter,we presented a flexible omnidirectional reflective film made of polymer substrates and multiple alternating layers of two chalcogenide glasses for full-angle CO_(2) laser protection.The structure parameters of the device were simulated for theoretical prediction of best device structure.The reflector was fabricated by alternate thermal evaporation of two chalcogenide glasses with large refractive index contrast.The reflectivity was greater than 78%at 10.6μm.The flexible reflective film can provide an effective solution for full-angle CO_(2) laser protection of the moving targets,such as laser operators and mobile optical components,with potential applications for wearable laser protective clothing.

Monolithically integrated stretchable photonics

Mechanically stretchable photonics provides a new geometric degree of freedom for photonic system design and foresees applications ranging from artificial skins to soft wearable electronics.Here we describe the design and experimental realization of the first single-mode stretchable photonic devices.These devices,made of chalcogenide glass and epoxy polymer materials,are monolithically integrated on elastomer substrates.To impart mechanical stretching capability to devices built using these intrinsically brittle materials,our design strategy involves local substrate stiffening to minimize shape deformation of critical photonic components,and interconnecting optical waveguides assuming a meandering Euler spiral geometry to mitigate radiative optical loss.Devices fabricated following such design can sustain 41%nominal tensile strain and 3000 stretching cycles without measurable degradation in optical performance.In addition,we present a rigorous analytical model to quantitatively predict stressoptical coupling behavior in waveguide devices of arbitrary geometry without using a single fitting parameter.