Third- and fifth-order optical nonlinearity in PbO-BaO-Na2O-Nb2O5-SiO2 glass and glass-ceramic nanocomposite dielectrics

Abstract We investigate the optical nonlinearity in 6PbO–4BaO–20Na2O–40Nb2O5–30SiO2 glass and glass-ceramic containing ferroelectric Ba2NaNb5O15 nanocrystals and Pb2Nb2O7 nanocrystals using Z-scan method. The values of the third-order (n2) and fifth-order (n4) nonlinear refractive indices are quantitatively determined as 1.76×10-17 m2/W and -2.29×10-31 m4/W2 in glass phase, respectively, and 2.62×10-17 m2/W and -2.89×10-31 m4/W2 in glass-ceramic, respectively. The values of three-photon absorption coefficient of the glass and glass-ceramic are obtained as 8.60×10-27 m3/W2 and 1.22×10-26 m3/W2, respectively. The samples satisfy the criterion for all-optical switching and have potential applications for all-optical photonic devices.