Gigantic broadband optical nonlinearity in gallium films deposited by ultrafast laser ablation

Summary form only given. Gallium-silica interfaces have emerged as a new type of structure that combines a strong nonlinearity with picosecond switching-on time. Here we report that the optical nonlinearity of gallium films deposited on fused silica by ultrafast pulsed laser ablation is very broadband, spanning from 480 nm to 810 nm.