Mid-infrared optical properties of chalcogenide glasses within tin-antimony-selenium ternary system

In this work, we investigated the mid-infrared (MIR) optical properties of selenide (Se-based) chalcogenide glasses (ChGs) within an As- and Ge-free system, namely the environment-friendly and low-cost tin-antimony-selenium (Sn-Sb-Se, SSS) ternary system, which has not been systematically studied to the best of our knowledge. As compared to ChGs within those conventional Se-based systems, SSS ChGs were found to exhibit extended infrared transmittance range as well as larger linear refractive index (n(0)). Femtosecond Z-scan measurements show the presence of evident three-photon absorption from Urbach absorption of the SSS ChGs at MIR wavelength, which resonantly enhanced the nonlinear refractive behavior and resulted in large nonlinear refractive index (n(2)). (C) 2017 Optical Society of America