Near-infrared nonlinear properties of a glass–ceramic containing sodium niobate nanocrystals

Abstract

We have investigated the third-order nonlinear optical response of a niobic–silicate glass–ceramic containing sodium niobate $({\mathrm{NaNbO}}_3)$ nanocrystals using picosecond Z-scan and femtosecond optical Kerr gate techniques at 1064 and 800 nm, respectively. The results show a large dependence of the nonlinear refractive index ${\mathrm{(n}}_2)$ on the volume fraction occupied by ${\mathrm{NaNbO}}_3$ crystallites. Nonlinear absorption is negligible for all samples and the response time of the nonlinearity was shorter than 100 fs demonstrating that this material is a promising candidate for ultrafast optical switching.