Se-based chalcogenide glasses 1000 times more nonlinear than fused silica

Summary form only given. Materials with large nonresonant nonlinear optical responses are desired for numerous applications, including all-optical switching (AOS) and the generation of broadband self-phase-modulated light sources for optical coherence tomography. AOS has been demonstrated in chalcogenide fibers, but material properties must be refined to increase efficiency. Previous authors have identified promising materials and came close to achieving the figure of merit (FOM), /spl gamma///spl beta//spl lambda/, of 5 required for a Mach-Zehnder switch. We describe selenium-based chalcogenide glasses (GeAsSe) with optical Kerr nonlinearities 1000 times that of fused silica. These glasses achieve FOM/spl sim/13, among the largest measured to date.