Terahertz-Induced Kerr Effect In Amorphous Chalcogenide Glasses

We have investigated the terahertz-induced third-order (Kerr) nonlinear optical properties of the amorphous chalcogenide glasses As2S3 and As2Se3. Chalcogenide glasses are known for their high optical Kerr nonlinearities which can be several hundred times greater than those of fused silica. We use high-intensity, single-cycle terahertz pulses with a maximum electrical field strength exceeding 400 kV/cm and frequency content from 0.2 to 3.0 THz. By optical Kerr-gate sampling, we measured the terahertz-induced nonlinear refractive indices at 800 nm to be n(2) = 1.746 x 10(-14) cm(2)/W for As2S3 and n(2) = 3.440 x 10(-14) cm(2)/W for As2Se3. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.