ABSTRACT
In this study, we investigate the effects of densification through high pressure and temperature (up to 5 GPa, 1000 °C) in the making of nanogratings in pure silica glass, inscribed with femtosecond laser. The latter were monitored through retardance measurements using polarized optical microscopy, and their internal structure was observed under scanning electron microscopy. We reveal the difficulty in making nanogratings in densified silica glasses. Based on this observation, we propose that free volume may be a key precursor to initiate nanograting formation.
ABSTRACT
Magneto-optical properties of tellurium-arsenic-selenium glass (${{\rm Te}_{20}}{{\rm As}_{30}}{{\rm Se}_{50}}$Te20As30Se50) were measured and analyzed. A Verdet constant of 15.18 rad/T/m at 1950 nm with the figure of merit of more than 8.72 rad/T, which is the highest value reported in glass materials at this wavelength, was measured. Compared to other chalcogenide glasses, such as ${{\rm Ge}_{10}}{{\rm Se}_{90}}$Ge10Se90 and ${{\rm Ge}_{25}}{{\rm As}_{15}}{{\rm S}_{60}}$Ge25As15S60, ${{\rm Te}_{20}}{{\rm As}_{30}}{{\rm Se}_{50}}$Te20As30Se50 glass exhibits higher Verdet constants, broader mid-infrared transparency window, and longer infrared absorption edge, making it a very promising material to fabricate magneto-optical devices for mid-infrared applications.
ABSTRACT
High pressure/high-temperature microreactors based on silicon-Pyrex® microfabrication technologies have attracted increasing interest in various applications providing optical access in high-pressure flow processes. However, they cannot be coupled to infrared spectroscopy due to the limited optical transparency (up to ~2.7 µm in the infrared region) of the Pyrex® glass substrate employed in the microreactor fabrication. To address this limitation, the alternative approach proposed in this work consists in replacing the Pyrex® glass in the microreactor by a mid-infrared transparent glass with thermal and mechanical properties as close as possible or even better to those of the Pyrex®, including its ability for silicon-wafers coupling by the anodic bonding process. Glasses based on germanate GeO2, known for their excellent transmission in the mid-infrared range and thermal/thermo-mechanical properties, have been thus evaluated and developed for this purpose. The optical, mechanical, thermal and electrical conductivity properties of adapted glass compositions belonging to five vitreous systems have been systemically investigated. The glass composition 70GeO2-15Al2O3-10La2O3-5Na2O (mol.%) was defined as the best candidate and produced in large plates of 50 mm diameter and 1 mm thickness. Anodic bonding tests with Si-wafers have been then successfully conducted, paving the way for the development of fully mid-infrared transparent silicon-glass microreactors.
ABSTRACT
A compact amplifier based on chalcogenide Pr3+-doped micro-disk coupled to two ridge waveguides is designed and refined by means of a home-made computer code. The gain G ≈ 7.9 dB is simulated for a Pr3+ concentration of 10 000 ppm, input signal power of -30 dBm at the wavelength 4.7 µm and input pump power of 50 mW at the wavelength 1.55 µm. In the laser behavior, i.e. without input signal, the maximum slope efficiency S = 8.1 × 10-4 is obtained for an input pump power of 2 mW. This value is about six times higher than that simulated for an optimized erbium-doped micro-disk.
