Bound electron nonlinearities and their application to optical switching

摘要: An extensive series of measurements of the bound electronic nonlinear refractive index n2 of a variety of solids at several wavelengths is reported. The data follow a universal dispersion curve from which values of n2 for other materials at other wavelengths can be calculated. The predicted bandgap scaling of n2 is experimentally verified, and the excellent agreement with the predicted magnitude and dispersion of n2 as calculated using the Kramers-Kronig transformation leads to the conclusion that the processes responsible for 2PA and the AC Stark effect also determine N2. This in turn implies that the bound electronic nonlinear refractive index is predominantly a causal consequence of these nonlinear absorptive processes just as the linear index is a causal consequence of linear absorption.