Modification of chalcogenide glasses by femtosecond laser pulses for the fabrication of highly non-linear 3D photonic devices

In this work, we report both theoretical and experimental efforts aimed at understanding the efficiency of using the method of fs modifications for the fabrication of highly non-linear photonic structures in bulk chalcogenide glasses. The research embraces: 1. numerical modelling of the process of glass sample illumination by a fs pulse, energy deposition and subsequent glass cooling; 2. melting of As-S-Se based chalcogenide glasses and measurement of their optical and thermal properties; 3. experiments on glass sample modification by fs pulses; 4. characterisation of the modified regions.