title: Ultrafast control of third-order optical nonlinearities in fishnet metamaterials.
abstract: Nonlinear photonic nanostructures that allow efficient all-optical switching are considered to be a prospective platform for novel building blocks in photonics. We performed time-resolved measurements of the photoinduced transient third-order nonlinear optical response of a fishnet metamaterial. The mutual influence of two non-collinear pulses exciting the magnetic resonance of the metamaterial was probed by detecting the third-harmonic radiation as a function of the time delay between pulses. Subpicosecond-scale dynamics of the metamaterial's χ((3)) was observed; the all-optical χ((3)) modulation depth was found to be approximately 70% at a pump fluence of only 20 μJ/cm(2).
authors.affiliation: Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Physics, Moscow, 119991, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexander S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Shorokhov
authors.affiliation: Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Physics, Moscow, 119991, Russia.
authors.forename: Kirill I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Okhlopkov
authors.affiliation: Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Institute of Applied Physics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Jena, 07743, Germany.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reinhold
authors.affiliation: Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Institute of Applied Physics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Jena, 07743, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Helgert
authors.affiliation: Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Physics, Moscow, 119991, Russia.
authors.forename: Maxim R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Shcherbakov
authors.affiliation: Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Institute of Applied Physics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Jena, 07743, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pertsch
authors.affiliation: Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Physics, Moscow, 119991, Russia.
authors.forename: Andrey A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Fedyanin