Large third-order optical nonlinearity of ZnO–Bi2O3–B2O3 glass–ceramic containing Bi2ZnB2O7 nanocrystals

Homogeneous transparent optical glass–ceramics precipitated with unique nonlinear crystals are promising materials for photonic applications. We have utilized heat treatment method to prepare transparent ZnO–Bi2O3–B2O3 glass–ceramic containing Bi2ZnB2O7 nonlinear nanocrystals. A large third-order nonlinear susceptibility χ(3) of glass–ceramic is measured by Z-scan technique, which mainly attributed to unique [BiO6] and [B2O5] units in Bi2ZnB2O7 crystal structure and the quantum size effect of nanoparticles. The discovery is of great potential in the application of nonlinear optical integrated devices.