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 lambda /300 wavefront distortion is achieved in n/sub 2/ measurements of BaF/sub 2/ using picosecond frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser pulses.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Keywords

OpticsTransmittanceZ-scan techniqueRefractive indexRefractionDistortion (music)Nonlinear systemPhysicsLaserWavefrontGaussian beamBeam (structure)Attenuation coefficientMaterials scienceNonlinear opticsOptoelectronicsAmplifier

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Publication Info

Year
1990
Type
article
Volume
26
Issue
4
Pages
760-769
Citations
8744
Access
Closed

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Mansoor Sheik‐Bahae, A. A. Said, Tai‐Huei Wei et al. (1990). Sensitive measurement of optical nonlinearities using a single beam. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics , 26 (4) , 760-769. https://doi.org/10.1109/3.53394

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DOI
10.1109/3.53394