Sensitive measurement of optical nonlinearities using a single beam

作者：Mansoor Sheik‐Bahae, A. A. Said, Tai‐Huei Wei, David J. Hagan, Eric W. Van Stryland · 发表于：IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics · 年份：1990 · DOI：10.1109/3.53394 · 被引用次数：9054 · 研究领域：Nonlinear Optical Materials Studies、Photorefractive and Nonlinear Optics、Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies

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.>