Determination of Kerr and two-photon absorption coefficients of ABI thin films

This material is based upon work supported by the ERDF 1.1.1.1 activity project Nr. 1.1.1.1/16/A/046 “Application assessment of novel organic materials by prototyping of photonic devices”In this paper we report the results of studied nonlinear optical properties of DMABI-Ph6 in form of solutions with chloroform as solvent and guest-host thin films with poly(methyl methacrylate) as host material. We implemented the Zscan method for studies of Kerr and two-photon absorption of selected material. During experimental measurements we used 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser with 30 ps pulse duration and 10 Hz repetition rate. From acquired values of Kerr coefficients we calculated values for real part of third-order susceptibility, as well as second-order hyperpolarizability. Acquired data for DMABI-Ph6 were compared with data for other ABI derivatives studied previously to describe how different donor and acceptor groups influence third-order nonlinear optical properties.CNRS,iCube,Investissements d'Avenir,Strasbourg the Europtimist,The Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE),Universit de Strasbourg; ERDF 1.1.1.1 activity project Nr. 1.1.1.1/16/A/046; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART

Mach-Zehnder interferometer implementation for thermo-optical and Kerr effect study

Scientific Research Project for Students and Young Researchers Nr. SJZ/2016/10; National Research Program “Multifunctional Materials and Composites, Photonics and Nanotechnology” (IMIS2) project “Photonics and materials for photonics”.In this paper, we propose the Mach–Zehnder interferometric method for third-order nonlinear optical and thermo-optical studies. Both effects manifest themselves as refractive index dependence on the incident light intensity and are widely employed for multiple opto-optical and thermo-optical applications. With the implemented method, we have measured the Kerr and thermo-optical coefficients of chloroform under CW, ns and ps laser irradiance. The application of lasers with different light wavelengths, pulse duration and energy allowed us to distinguish the processes responsible for refractive index changes in the investigated solution. Presented setup was also used for demonstration of opto-optical switching. Results from Mach–Zehnder experiment were compared to Z-scan data obtained in our previous studies. Based on this, a quality comparison of both methods was assessed and advantages and disadvantages of each method were analyzed.Scientific Research Project for Students and Young Researchers Nr. SJZ/2016/10; National Research Program IMIS2; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART

Integrated Backward Second-Harmonic Generation Through Optically Induced Quasi-Phase Matching

Quasi-phase-matching for efficient backward second-harmonic generation (BSHG) requires sub-$\rm\mu$m poling periods, a non-trivial fabrication feat. For the first time, we report integrated first-order quasi-phase-matched BSHG enabled by seeded all-optical poling. The self-organized grating inscription circumvents all fabrication challenges. We compare backward and forward processes and explain how grating period influences the conversion efficiency. These results showcase unique properties of the coherent photogalvanic effect and how it can bring new nonlinear functionalities to integrated photonics

All-Organic Waveguide Sensor for Volatile Solvent Sensing

This work was supported by ERDF 1.1.1.1 Activity Project Nr. 1.1.1.1/16/A/046 “Application assessment of novel organic materials by prototyping of photonic devices”. We acknowledge Igors MIHAILOVS for valuable discussions.An all-organic Mach-Zehnder waveguide device for volatile solvent sensing is presented. Optical waveguide devices offer a great potential for various applications in sensing and communications due to multiple advantageous properties such as immunity to electromagnetic interference, high efficiency, and low cost and size. One of the most promising areas for applications of photonic systems would be real-time monitoring of various hazardous organic vapor concentrations harmful to human being. The optical waveguide volatile solvent sensor presented here comprises a novel organic material applied as a cladding on an SU-8 waveguide core and can be used for sensing of different vapors such as isopropanol, acetone, and water. It is shown that the reason for the chemical sensing in device is the absorption of vapor into the waveguide cladding which in turn changes the waveguide effective refractive index. The presented waveguide device has small footprint and high sensitivity of the mentioned solvent vapor, particularly that of water. The preparation steps of the device as well as the sensing characteristics are presented and discussed.ERDF 1.1.1.1 Activity Project Nr. 1.1.1.1/16/A/046; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART²https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13320-019-0543-

All-organic electro-optic waveguide modulator comprising SU-8 and nonlinear optical polymer

Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia (SJZ/2016/26); Ministry of Education and Science, Republic of Latvia (MultIfunctional Materials and composItes, photonicS and nanotechnology (IMIS2)). We acknowledge Dr. Anatolijs Sarakovskis at Institute of Solid State Physics for the XPS measurements.In this paper we describe the principles of operation as well as the fabrication and testing steps of an all-organic waveguide modulator. The modulator comprises an SU-8 core and an electro-optic host-guest polymer cladding. The polymer properties are tuned in order to achieve single mode operation. We used direct-write laser lithography in two steps for the preparation of the devices. The electro-optic coefficient of the polymer is estimated from observing the modulation of the device operated in push-pull mode.Latvijas Universitate, SJZ/2016/26; Ministry of Education and Science, Republic of Latvia IMIS2; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART

Determination of Kerr and two-photon absorption coefficients of indandione derivatives

This material is based upon work supported by the ERDF 1.1.1.1 activity project Nr. 1.1.1.1/16/A/046 “Application assessment of novel organic materials by prototyping of photonic devices” as well as by National Research Program “Multifunctional Materials and Composites, Photonics and Nanotechnology” (IMIS2) project “Photonics and materials for photonics”.We studied nonlinear optical properties of two different aminobenziliden-1,3-indandione derivatives - DDMABI and DMABI-OH by employing the Z-scan method. Through this we described how different donor and acceptor groups influence third-order nonlinear optical properties such as Kerr effect and two-photon absorption. During experimental measurements we used 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser with 30 ps pulse duration and 10 Hz repetition rate. From acquired values of Kerr and two-photon absorption coefficients we calculated values for real and imaginary parts of third-order susceptibility, as well as second-order hyperpolarizability. Quantum chemical calculations were carried out for secondorder hyperpolarizability to study how well calculations correlate with experimental values. Acquired data for DDMABI and DMABI-OH were compared with data for other ABI derivatives studied previously.European Regional Development Fund 1.1.1.1 activity project Nr. 1.1.1.1/16/A/046; National Research Program IMIS2; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART

Optically Probed Time Dynamics of χ(2) Grating Inscription in SiN Waveguides

Silicon Nitride (S13N4) waveguide platforms have seen significant interest in the recent years, motivated by several advantageous properties such as compatibility with CMOS fabrication standards, low propagation loss, high refractive index and optical nonlinearity suggesting multiple applications in integrated linear and nonlinear optics. Unfortunately, Si 3 N 4 does not exhibit second order nonlinear optical properties due to its amorphous nature. Yet, recently several groups showed a build-up in time of a second harmonic (SH) when a pulsed high power pump is coupled in an Si3N waveguide [1-3]. This phenomenon, referred to as all-optical poling, is explained by the growth of an harmonic space-charge modulated χ (2) grating which quasi-phase matches the pump and its SH [4]

Silicon nitride electric-field poled microresonator modulator

Stoichiometric silicon nitride is a highly regarded platform for its favorable attributes, such as low propagation loss and compatibility with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology, making it a prominent choice for various linear and nonlinear applications on a chip. However, due to its amorphous structure, silicon nitride lacks second-order nonlinearity; hence, the platform misses the key functionality of linear electro-optical modulation for photonic integrated circuits. Several approaches have been explored to address this problem, including integration with electro-optic active materials, piezoelectric tuning, and utilization of the thermo-optic effect. In this work, we demonstrate electro-optical modulation in a silicon nitride microring resonator enabled by electric-field poling, eliminating the complexities associated with material integration and providing data modulation speeds up to 75 Mb/s, currently only limited by the electrode design. With an estimated inscribed electric field of 100 V/μm, we achieve an effective second-order susceptibility of 0.45 pm/V. In addition, we derive and confirm the value of the material’s third-order susceptibility, which is responsible for the emergence of second-order nonlinearity. These findings broaden the functionality of silicon nitride as a platform for electro-optic modulation

Bright and dark Talbot pulse trains on a chip

Abstract Temporal Talbot effect, the intriguing phenomenon of the self-imaging of optical pulse trains, is extensively investigated using macroscopic components. However, the ability to manipulate pulse trains, either bright or dark, through the Talbot effect on integrated photonic chips to replace bulky instruments has rarely been reported. Here, we design and experimentally demonstrate a proof-of-principle integrated silicon nitride device capable of imprinting the Talbot phase relation onto in-phase optical combs and generating the two-fold self-images at the output. We show that the GHz-repetition-rate bright and dark pulse trains can be doubled without affecting their spectra as a key feature of the temporal Talbot effect. The designed chip can be electrically tuned to switch between pass-through and repetition-rate-multiplication outputs and is compatible with other related frequencies. The results of this work lay the foundations for the large-scale system-on-chip photonic integration of Talbot-based pulse multipliers, enabling the on-chip flexible up-scaling of pulse trains’ repetition rate without altering their amplitude spectra