Developing a new class of active photonic components

波导光学，更准确地说，光纤已经对现代社会产生了广泛而深远的影响。互联网带宽的指数增长见证了基于光纤的高比特率电信网络的发展。目前，迫切需要开发紧凑可靠的光源，将光子学的领域实际扩展到电磁光谱的其他领域，特别是在长波长范围内，它将在许多领域得到应用，包括生物医学部门(牙科、外科)、环境(气体传感、光谱学、激光雷达)以及国防和安全。光纤激光器在实现这些应用目标方面显示出巨大的潜力。因此，这项研究计划旨在开发具有增强性能和扩大光谱覆盖范围的新一代光子组件(主要是光纤激光器)。它依赖于飞秒激光光源的最新发展，这些光源能够引起光学材料(即玻璃)物理性质的永久性结构变化。具体地说，这项研究计划的主要目标之一是开发单片(即全光纤或全集成)有源和无源光子器件，更准确地说，在可见光和中红外波段覆盖二氧化硅基元件无法访问的波长窗口。为此，我们将使用低声子能量玻璃，如氟化物(如ZBLAN)和硫化物作为选择的材料。还将特别注意与电介质材料与超快激光脉冲相互作用有关的基本问题。

Waveguide optics and more precisely optical fibres have had a broad and profound impact on modern society. The exponential growth of bandwidth for the Internet bears witness to the development of a fiberoptic based high-bit-rate telecommunication network. Currently, there is a tremendous need to develop compact and reliable optical sources that will practically extend the realm of photonics to other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, specifically in the long wavelength range where it would find applications in numerous areas, including the biomedical sector (dentistry, surgery), the environment (gas sensing, spectroscopy, laser radars) as well as Defence & Security. Fibre lasers have shown great potential to achieve these application goals. This research program is therefore aimed at developing a new generation of photonic components (primarily fibre lasers) with enhanced properties and extended spectral coverage. It relies on the recent development of femtosecond laser sources capable of inducing permanent structural changes in the physical properties of optical materials, namely glass. Specifically, one of the main objectives of this research program is to develop monolithic (i.e. all-fibre or all-integrated) active and passive photonic devices that will cover wavelength windows that are not accessible with silica-based components, in the visible and the mid-IR to be more precise. To this end, we will use low-phonon energy glasses, such as fluoride (e.g. ZBLAN) and chalcogenide as the materials of choice. Special attention will also be paid to the fundamental issues related to the interaction of dielectric materials with ultrafast laser pulses.