Ultrafast all-optical chalcogenide glass photonic circuits

Chalcogenide glasses offer large ultrafast third-order nonlinearities, combined with low two-photon absorption and absence of free carrier absorption in a photosensitivity medium. This unique combination of properties is nearly ideal for all-optical signal processing devices. In this paper we review the key properties of these materials, outline progress in the field and focus on several recent highlights: high quality gratings, signal regeneration and wavelength conversion.