Abstract

Recently, Myers et al. reported that a large second-order nonlinearity [χ⁽²⁾~1pm/V] was induced in the near surface region (~4μm) of commercial fused silica by electric-field (5× 10⁴V/cm) poling process at 300°C¹. Since the large nonlinearity that they observed were remarkable in the glass containing a small amount of alkali (Na⁺) impurity, they proposed a model, based on the formation of space-charge layer due to drift of Na⁺ during poling process, that could explain the nonlinearity. Here we report second-order nonlinearity in poled phosphate glass. The observed nonlinearity is explained tentatively by considering the drift of protons in the poled glasses.

© 1995 Optical Society of America