Efficient polarization switching with holographic cut cubic crystals

Nonlinear optical transformation from one linear polarization state to another perpendicularly polarized, attracted interest in recent years primarily as a method to increase the temporal contrast of femtosecond pulses. This is crucially important for the interaction of ultra-intense femtosecond laser pulses with solid-state targets. All efficient schemes realized so far use [001] cut (z-cut) BaF₂ samples. It is of great interest to search for new types of crystals and/or for different orientations that can yield higher efficiencies. This paper presents theoretically and experimentally that holographic-cut BaF₂ samples are proved to be 30% more efficient generator of cross-polarized wave (XPW) than the previously used z-cut. The dependence of the optimal input polarization azimuthal angle on input intensity is much weaker for holographic-cut compared to z-cut.