Glass, optical applications material systems

The potential application of organic and polymeric materials, especially glassy polymers, is promising as evidenced by the pertinent material properties. A model nonlinear optical glassy polymer system, combining the large nonlinear susceptibilities of the dopant and favorable optical properties of the host polymer glass, was fabricated and evaluated. The nonlinear optical... 

Most sulfide glasses for optical applications are based on the As-S and Ge-S systems, with compositions modified by other metal or non-metal sulfides. These glasses are IR-transmitting materials which can also be used as rare-earth ion hosts for optical amplifiers. 

Four different sol-gel routes can be used to prepare various kinds of sulfide materials. Sol-gel synthesis of sulfides usually follows colloidal chemical processing, except route A. It is very important to control the sizes of colloidal particles. As-S and Ge-S glass films could be prepared by sol-gel processing for planar waveguides, for IR optical applications. The sol-gel synthesis of multicomponent sulfide glasses needs further study, perhaps based on the Ge-S system. Route D can also be used for synthesis of multicomponent sulfides. 

Microstructures and systems are typically fabricated from rigid materials, such as crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, glass, quartz, metals and organic polymers. Elastomeric materials can be used in applications where rigidity is a drawback. We have demonstrated the concepts of elastomeric systems by fabrication of photothermal detectors, optical modulators and light valves. We believe that elastomeric materials will find additional applications in the areas of optical systems, micro analytical systems, biomaterials and biosensors. 

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