FABRICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NONLINEAR OPTICAL GLASSES

Advent of lasers offering high intensity beam has opened the glass to the nonlinear optic (NLO). The high electric field associated with such laser beams can be so large that high order components of the glass polarization can be measured. Such development is of scientific and technological interests in particular in systems involving an intensity-dependent refractive index and/or ultra-fast response (＜10$\^$-12/s). From a scientific viewpoint the NLO response intensity must be understood as a function of the glass composition. On the other hand, large family of applications are presently under investigation in various fields of optical materials or systems e.g. laser glasses for fusion energy, soliton propagation for ultra-long distances, ultra-fast-switching, optical storage etc....(omitted)