Second-harmonic generation in Ge20As25S55 glass irradiated by an electron beam

Second-harmonic generation was observed in Ge(20)AS(25)S(55) chalcogenide glass irradiated by an electron beam. The second-harmonic intensity increased with increasing electron-beam current and accelerating voltage. The second-harmonic generation in Ge20As25S55 glass was caused by the space-charge electrostatic field that was generated by irradiation of an electron beam. Second-order nonlinearity chi ((2)) as great as 0.8 pm/V was obtained. The results of measurements of thermally stimulated depolarization current indicated that the glass was poled in the thin layers of its surface (several micrometers) and that the nonlinearity was stable. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.

Optical transitions and upconversion luminescence of Er3+/Yb3+-codoped halide modified tellurite glasses

Er3+-doped halide modified tellurite glasses were synthesized by conventional melting and quenching method. The Judd-Ofelt analysis was performed on the absorption spectra and the transition probabilities, excited state lifetimes, and the branching ratios were calculated and discussed. The intense infrared and visible fluorescence spectra under 980 nm excitation were obtained. Strong upconversion signal was observed at pumping power as low as 30 mW in the glasses with halide ions. The upconversion mechanisms and power dependent intensities were discussed, which showed two-photon process are involved for the green and red emissions. The decay times of the emitting states and the corresponding quantum efficiency were determined and explained. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Optical transitions of Er3+ and Yb3+ ions in novel oxyfluoride bismuth-germanium glass: Observation of up-conversion

Er3+/Yb3+-codoped novel oxyfluoride bismuth-germanium glass was prepared and its up-conversion fluorescence property under 975 nm excitation has been studied. Intense green and weak red emissions centered at 525, 546, and 657 nm, corresponding to the transitions 2H(11/2) -> I-4(15/2), S-4(3/2) -> I-4(15/2), and F-4(9/2) -> I-4(15/2), respectively, were observed at room temperature. The possible up-conversion mechanism was also evaluated. The optimal Yb3+-Er3+ concentration ratio is found based on the direct lifetime measurements of excited levels for Er3+ ion. The structure of this novel oxyfluoride bismuth-germanium glass has been investigated by peak-deconvolution of FT-Raman spectrum, and the structural information was obtained from the peak wavenumbers. This novel oxyfluoride bismuth-germanium glass with relatively lower maximum phonon energy (similar to 731 cm(-1)) can be used as potential host material for up-conversion lasers. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Codoping Na+ to modulate the spectroscopy and photoluminescence properties of Yb3+ in CaF2 laser crystal

kinds of Yb3+- and Na+-codoped CaF2 laser crystal with different Na:Yb ratios of 0, 1.5, and 10 are grown by the temperature gradient technique. Room-temperature absorption, photoluminescence spectra, and fluorescence lifetimes belonging to the transitions between ground state F-2(7/2) and excited state F-2(5/2) of Yb3+ ions in the three crystals are measured to study the effect of Na+. Experimental results show that codoping Na+ ions in different Na:Yb ratios can modulate the spectroscopy and photoluminescence properties of Yb3+ ions in a CaF2 lattice in a large scope. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America

Nanosecond nonlinear absorption in Au and Ag nanoparticles precipitated glasses induced by a femtosecond laser

We obtain Au and Ag nanoparticles precipitated in glasses by irradiation of focused femtosecond pulses, and investigate the nonlinear absorptions of the glasses by using Z-scan technique with ns pulses at 532 nm. We observe the saturable absorption behavior for An nanoparticles precipitated glasses and the reverse saturable ones for Ag ones. We also obtain, by fitting to the experimental results in the light of the local field effect near and away from the surface plasmon resonance, chi(m)((3)) = 4.5 x 10(-7) and 5.9 x 10(-8) esu for m the imaginary parts of the third-order susceptibilities for Au and Ag nanoparticles, respectively. The nonlinear response of Au nanoparticles in the glass samples arises mainly from the hot-electron contribution and the saturation of the interband transitions near the surface plasmon resonance, whereas that of Ag nanoparticles in the glass samples from the interband transitions. These show that the obtained glasses can be used as optoelectronic devices suiting for different demands. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Precipitation of Ge nanoparticles from GeO2 glasses in transmission electron microscope

We show, using spatially resolved energy loss spectroscopy in a transmission electron microscopy (TEM), that GeO2 and GeO2-SiO2 glasses are extremely sensitive to high energy electrons. Ge nanoparticles can be precipitated in GeO2 glasses efficiently by the high-energy electron beam of a TEM. This is relevant to TEM characterization of luminescent Ge nanoparticles in silicate glasses, which may produce artificial results. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Laser-induced damage threshold of ZrO2 thin films prepared at different oxygen partial pressures by electron-beam evaporation

ZrO2, films were deposited by electron-beam evaporation with the oxygen partial pressure varying from 3 X 10(-3) Pa to I I X 10(-3) Pa. The phase structure of the samples was characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The thermal absorption of the films was measured by the surface thermal lensing technique. A spectrophotometer was employed to measure the refractive indices of the samples. The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) was assessed using a 1064, nm Nd: yttritium-aluminium-garnet pulsed laser at pulse width of 12 ns. The influence of oxygen partial pressure on the microstructure and LIDT of ZrO2 films was investigated. XRD data revealed that the films changed from polycrystalline to amorphous as the oxygen partial pressure increased. The variation of refractive index at 550 nm wavelength indicated that the packing density of the films decreased gradually with increasing oxygen partial pressure. The absorptance of the samples decreased monotonically from 125.2 to 84.5 ppm with increasing oxygen partial pressure. The damage threshold, values increased from 18.5 to 26.7 J/cm(2) for oxygen partial pressures varying from 3 X 10(-3) Pa to 9 X 10(-3) Pa, but decreased to 17.3 J/cm(2) in the case of I I X 10(-3) Pa. (C) 2005 American Vacuum Society.