Large Kerr Effect in Bulk Se-Based Chalcogenide Glasses

Ultrafast all-optical switching (AOS), and more generally ultrafast all-optical processing, are essential functions in high bit rate optical time division multiplexing (OTDM). The requirements on devices that provide such functionality are as follows: 1) Low switching energy; 2) Ultrafast time response (broadband); 3) Low loss (linear as well as nonlinear) and low noise; 4) Small size; 5) Integration with existing technology. Meeting these requirements is not a smiple task, and the best approach relies on employing a large non-resonant optical nonlinearity, such as the optical Kerr effect. The large nonlinearity allows low switching energy and small device size and the non-resonant character leads to an ultrafast time response with low absorption.