Optical nanocomposites for laser applications

Abstract

An optical nanocomposite containing optically active crystals and suitable to be drawn into fiber form, dissolved into solution and subsequently deposited as a thin film, or used as a bulk optical component. This invention integrates compositional tailoring to enable matching of optical properties (index, dispersion, do/dT), specialized dispersion methods to ensure homogeneous physical dispersion of NCs within the glass matrix during preparation, while minimizing agglomeration and mismatch of coefficient of thermal expansion. By tailoring the base glass composition's viscosity versus temperature profile, the resulting bulk nanocomposite can be further formed to create an optical fiber, while maintaining physical dispersion of NCs, avoiding segregation of the NCs.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.