Femtosecond third-harmonic generation in a glass ceramic containing sodium niobate nanocrystals

The third-harmonic optical susceptibility, chi((3))(3 omega; omega, omega, omega) of a silicate glass ceramic containing sodium niobate nanocrystals was measured for incident broadband light with central frequency omega corresponding to 1900nm. Absolute values of |chi((3))| and the dispersion of the refractive index from 600 to 1900nm were measured using the spectrally resolved femtosecond Maker fringes technique. The experiments show that |chi((3))| is 1 order of magnitude larger than silica, and it grows by similar to 50% when the volume fraction occupied by the nanocrystals increases up to 40%. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America

Brazilian agency Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)

Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES)

Fundacao de Amparo a Ciencia e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco (FACEPE)

Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)