NU 2007-166 and 2009-048
Inventors
In Chung
Mercouri Kanatzidis*
Short Description
A nonlinear optic glassy fiber and thin film technology that produces coherent light at frequencies where lasers perform poorly
Abstract
While most second harmonic generation (SHG) materials are oxide compounds, they are inefficient in the infrared (IR) region because of issues with absorption. Northwestern researchers have developed nonlinear optic (NLO) glassy fiber and thin film technology that effectively produces coherent light at frequencies where lasers perform poorly or are unavailable. The high-quality optical glassy fiber is made from a melt of alkali metal selenophosphate ternary compounds and can easily be drawn out to multiple meters in length and a few to a hundred microns in thickness. The optical glassy fibers and thin films outperformed any known NLO materials, exhibiting strong waveguided second harmonic generation response along the fiber. The nonlinear optical response was present without the application of electric fields (poling) to the fibers and generated a frequency-mixing signal of difference frequency generation (DFG) continuously in a wide range of visible/IR light. The NLO films are inexpensively and conveniently produced and can be deposited from solution, making the material useful for many applications.
Applications
Advantages
IP Status
Issued US Patent Nos. 8,143,181 and 8,351,109