Large nonlinear Kerr effect in graphene

Autor: Zhang, Han, Virally, Stephane, Bao, Qiaoliang, Loh, Kian Ping, Massar, Serge, Godbout, Nicolas, Kockaert, Pascal
Rok vydání: 2012
Předmět:
Zdroj: Optics Letters Vol. 37, Issue 11, pp. 1856-1858 (2012)
Druh dokumentu: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1364/OL.37.001856
Popis: Under strong laser illumination, few-layer graphene exhibits both a transmittance increase due to saturable absorption and a nonlinear phase shift. Here, we unambiguously distinguish these two nonlinear optical effects and identify both real and imaginary parts of the complex nonlinear refractive index of graphene. We show that graphene possesses a giant nonlinear refractive index n2=10-7cm2W-1, almost nine orders of magnitude larger than bulk dielectrics. We find that the nonlinear refractive index decreases with increasing excitation flux but slower than the absorption. This suggests that graphene may be a very promising nonlinear medium, paving the way for graphene-based nonlinear photonics.
Comment: Optics Letters received 12/02/2011; accepted 03/12/2012; posted 03/21/2012,Doc. ID 159129
Databáze: arXiv