Sensitive measurement of optical nonlinearities using a single beam

Author

Sheik-Bahae, Mansoor ; Said, Ali A. ; Wei, Tai-Huei ; Hagan, David J. ; Van Stryland, E.W.

Author_Institution

Center for Res. in Electro-Opt. & Lasers, Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

Volume

26

Issue

4

fYear

1990

fDate

4/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

760

Lastpage

769

Abstract

A sensitive single-beam technique for measuring both the nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficient for a wide variety of materials is reported. The authors describe the experimental details and present a comprehensive theoretical analysis including cases where nonlinear refraction is accompanied by nonlinear absorption. In these experiments, the transmittance of a sample is measured through a finite aperture in the far field as the sample is moved along the propagation path (z) of a focused Gaussian beam. The sign and magnitude of the nonlinear refraction are easily deduced from such a transmittance curve (Z-scan). Employing this technique, a sensitivity of better than λ/300 wavefront distortion is achieved in n ₂ measurements of BaF₂ using picosecond frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser pulses

Keywords

barium compounds; light absorption; nonlinear optics; optical constants; optical variables measurement; refractive index measurement; BaF₂; comprehensive theoretical analysis; focused Gaussian beam; magnitude; materials; nonlinear absorption coefficient; nonlinear refraction; nonlinear refractive index; picosecond frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser pulses; propagation path; sensitive single-beam technique; sign; transmittance; transmittance curve; wavefront distortion; Absorption; Adaptive optics; Nonlinear optics; Optical distortion; Optical materials; Optical refraction; Optical sensors; Optical variables control; Pulse measurements; Refractive index;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.53394

Filename

53394