Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
Our work, in which we have studied optical nonlinearity trends in oxide glasses and the fabrication of optical fibers from high nonlinearity glasses, is reviewed. An oxide glass with a nonresonant nonlinearity Kerr coefficient g equal to 125 × 10−20 cm2/W, which is approximately fifty times larger than that of silica, was identified. Single-mode optical fibers have been fabricated from such high nonlinearity glasses. The predicted enhanced nonlinear properties of the fibers have been demonstrated without any significant degradation due to the nonlinear resonant process of two-photon absorption.