Development of photonics devices in the mid-infrared region photo-induced by femtosecond laser pulses

The mid-infrared region is of great interest for many applications in various fields such as medicine, biology, environment and astronomy. Therefore, there is a need for developing sources and devices operating in this wavelength region, spanning approximately from 2 to 20 μm. The development of these devices involves the development of mid-IR transparent materials and then the optical functionalization of these materials. In the framework of this PhD thesis, we propose to study the fabrication of components in glass of heavy metal oxides (barium, gallium, germanium: BGG), whose interest is the combination of a good transmission (from ∼350 nm to ∼5 μm) and good mechanical and chemical resistances. The technique used for the optical functionalization of this glass is direct inscription by ultra-short pulses. This technique allows a local and permanent modification of a material by focusing pulses of a duration of a few tens or hundreds of femtoseconds, generating very high light intensities and allowing the non-linear absorption of the laser beam energy. The non-linear nature of the interaction allows the inscription of three-dimensional structures in the bulk. Thanks to this technique, we can produce waveguides, microfluidic channels and fluorescent patterns, to name but a few examples. In this thesis, we report a detailed study of femtosecond laser inscription in different types of BGG glasses. We show that it is possible to have a high positive index change, allowing the formation of waveguide-based components for mid-IR. In particular, we present measurements results on waveguides and couplers in the mid-IR, embedded in BGG glass and fused silica. Another type of glass derived from BGG and doped with silver ions is also studied with the femtosecond laser inscription. As observed in other types of oxide glasses, silver ions modify the laser-matter interaction and provide silver-specific properties such as fluorescence, second harmonic generation and surface plasmons resonance. (author)