Open AccessNonlinear polarization instability in cubic-quintic plasmonic nanocomposites
Author(s) -
Albert S. Reyna,
Emeric Bergmann,
PierreFrançois Brevet,
Cid B. de Araújo
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.25.021049
Subject(s) - optics , polarization (electrochemistry) , birefringence , materials science , nonlinear optics , instability , nonlinear system , dielectric , volume fraction , molecular physics , physics , laser , optoelectronics , chemistry , quantum mechanics , mechanics , composite material
We report a study of the nonlinear birefringence induced in a metal-dielectric nanocomposite due to the contributions of third- and fifth-order optical nonlinearities. A theoretical model describing the evolution of the light polarization state of a confined laser beam propagating through the nonlinear medium is developed with basis on a pair of coupled dissipative cubic-quintic nonlinear differential equations related to the two orthogonal polarizations of the optical field. As a proof-of-principle experiment we demonstrate the control of the light beam polarization in a silver-nanocolloid by changing the silver nanoparticles volume fraction, f, and the light intensity. A large nonlinear phase-shift (~20π) was observed using a 9 cm long capillary filled with silver nanoparticles suspended in carbon disulfide. Experiments using colloids with 1.0×10 -5 ≤f≤4.5×10 -5 and maximum light intensities of tens of MW/cm 2 are performed. In addition, we demonstrate that the modulation instability is highly sensitive to the quintic nonlinearity contribution performed showing good agreement with the experimental results.