Cerenkov-type second-harmonic generation with fundamental beams of different polarizations.

We analyze the conical second-harmonic generation via Cerenkov-type phase matching in two-dimensional decagonal nonlinear photonic quasi-crystals for linear, circular, and elliptical polarized fundamental beams. Depending on the polarization state, we observe either centrosymmetric or noncentrosymmetric intensity modulation of the second-harmonic rings. We explain this effect by employing the concept of effective quadratic nonlinearity combined with the hexagonal symmetry of the individual ferroelectric domains.

Nonlinear diffraction from a virtual beam.

We observe experimentally a novel type of nonlinear diffraction in the process of two-wave mixing on a nonlinear quadratic grating. We demonstrate that when the nonlinear grating is illuminated simultaneously by two noncollinear beams, a second-harmonic diffraction pattern is generated by a virtual beam propagating along the bisector of the two pump beams. The observed diffraction phenomena is a purely nonlinear effect that has no analogue in linear diffraction.

Planar second-harmonic generation with noncollinear pumps in disordered media.

We study experimentally the process of the second harmonic generation by two noncollinear beams in quadratic nonlinear crystals with a disordered structure of ferroelectric domains. We show that the second-harmonic radiation is emitted in the form of two cones as well as in a plane representing the cross-correlation of the two fundamental pulses. We demonstrate the implementation of this parametric process for characterisation of femtosecond pulses, enabling the estimation of pulse width, chirp, and front tilt. This is achieved through monitoring the evolution of the autocorrelation trace inside the nonlinear crystal.

Energy exchange between two orthogonally polarized waves by cascading of two quasi-phase-matched quadratic processes.

We demonstrate energy exchange between two orthogonally polarized optical waves as a consequence of a two-color multistep parametric interaction. The energy exchange results from cascading of two quasi-phase-matched (QPM) second-harmonic parametric processes, and it is intrinsically instantaneous. The effect is observed when both the type-I (ooe) second-harmonic generation process and higher QPM order type-0 (eee) second-harmonic generation processes are phase-matched simultaneously in a congruent periodically-poled lithium niobate crystal. The two second-harmonic generation processes share a common second-harmonic wave which couple the two cross-polarized fundamental components and facilitate an energy flow between them. We demonstrate a good agreement between the experimental data and the results of numerical simulations.

Second-harmonic parametric scattering in ferroelectric crystals with disordered nonlinear domain structures.

We study the second-harmonic (SH) parametric processes in unpoled crystals of Strontium Barium Niobate (SBN) with disordered structures of ferroelectric domains. Such crystals allow for the simultaneous phase matching of several second-order nonlinear processes. We analyze the polarization properties of these parametric processes using two types of generation schemes: quasi-collinear SH generation and transverse SH generation. From our experimental data we determine the ratio of d(32) and d(33) components of the second order susceptibility tensor and also the statistical properties of the random structure of the SBN crystal.

Simultaneous phase matching and internal interference of two second-order nonlinear parametric processes.

We demonstrate the simultaneous generation and internal interference of two second-order parametric processes in a single nonlinear quadratic crystal. The two-frequency doubling processes are Type 0 (two extraordinary fundamental waves generate an extraordinary second-harmonic wave) and Type I (two ordinary fundamental waves generate an extraordinary second-harmonic wave) parametric interactions. The phase-matching conditions for both processes are satisfied in a single periodically poled grating in LiNbO3 using quasi-phase-matching (QPM) vectors with different orders. We observe an interference of two processes, and compare the results with the theoretical analysis. We suggest several applications of this effect such as polarization-independent frequency doubling and a method for stabilizing the level of the generated second-harmonic signal.

Cascaded third-harmonic generation in a single short-range-ordered nonlinear photonic crystal.

Collinear third-harmonic generation at 526.7 nm was realized by the simultaneous phase matching of two second-order processes in a single quadratic crystal: second-harmonic generation (SHG) and sum-frequency mixing (SFM). The measured conversion efficiency was 12%. As a nonlinear medium a LiNbO(3) nonlinear photonic crystal with short-range order was used that allowed simultaneous phase matching by use of discrete reciprocal vector (for the SHG process) and continuous reciprocal vectors (for the SFM process). It was demonstrated that the third harmonic could be generated efficiently in such a crystal even if the intermediate process of SHG was not perfectly phase matched.

Multiorder nonlinear diffraction in frequency doubling processes.

We analyze experimentally light scattering from chi(2) nonlinear gratings and observe two types of second-harmonic frequency-scattering processes. The first process is identified as Raman-Nath type nonlinear diffraction that is explained by applying only transverse phase-matching conditions. The angular position of this type of diffraction is defined by the ratio of the second-harmonic wavelength and the grating period. In contrast, the second type of nonlinear scattering process is explained by the longitudinal phase matching only, being insensitive to the nonlinear grating period.

Generation of second-harmonic conical waves via nonlinear bragg diffraction.

We report on the observation of second-harmonic conical waves generated in a novel geometry of the transverse excitation of an annular periodically poled nonlinear photonic structure by a fundamental Gaussian beam. We show that the conical beams are formed as a result of the higher-order nonlinear Bragg diffraction involving two parametric processes in which an ordinary fundamental wave is converted simultaneously into ordinary and extraordinary polarized second harmonics.

Spatiotemporal toroidal waves from the transverse second-harmonic generation.

We study the second-harmonic generation via transversely matched interaction of two counterpropagating ultrashort pulses in chi(2) photonic structures. We show that the emitted second-harmonic wave attains the form of spatially expanding toroid with the initial thickness given by the cross correlation of the pulses. We demonstrate the formation of such toroidal waves in crystals with random ferroelectric domains as well as in annularly poled nonlinear photonic structures.

Cross-polarized wave generation in the UV region.

We demonstrate experimentally the generation of cross-polarized femtosecond pulses in BaF2 crystal in the UV region. We show that unsaturated cross-polarized wave generation in the UV is six times more efficient than in the visible region, and we deduce the corresponding wavelength dispersion of the third-order nonlinearity.

Highly efficient nonlinear filter for femtosecond pulse contrast enhancement and pulse shortening.

We propose a highly efficient scheme for temporal filters devoted to femtosecond pulse contrast enhancement. The filter is based on cross-polarized wave generation with a spatially suger-Gaussian-shaped beam. In a single nonlinear crystal scheme the energy conversion to the cross-polarized pulse can reach 28%. We demonstrate that the process enables a significant spectral broadening. For an efficiency of 23% the pulse shortening is estimated to 2.2, leading to an intensity transmission of the nonlinear filter of 50%.

Noncollinear double quasi phase matching in one-dimensional poled crystals.

We demonstrate simultaneous phase matching of two different nonlinear processes, using a noncollinear interaction in periodically poled crystal with single grating. The noncollinear scheme provides phase-matching solutions over continuous regions of the optical spectrum and can be used for multiple-harmonic generation as well as all-optical effects. We have demonstrated experimentally third-harmonic generation of a 3 microm pump wavelength in a noncollinear configuration using a periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal. We observed, in good agreement with theoretical calculation, very broad spectral and thermal acceptance bandwidths, as well as a relatively narrow angular bandwidth.

Group-velocity-matched multistep cascading in nonlinear photonic crystals.

We demonstrate that simultaneous phase- and group-velocity-matched cascaded parametric processes can be achieved in two-dimensional quadratic nonlinear photonic crystals by proper matching of noncollinear processes with front tilting of the fundamental pulse. We present examples of cascaded third- and fourth-harmonic generation in a poled LiNbO3 planar structure.

How to measure chi(3) of a nanoparticle.

Most of the known methods to measure the nonlinear optical properties of materials deal with the bulk properties, but there are many demanding applications that require those measurements to be done on a single particle or a single molecule. We report a novel application of nonlinear optics to measure the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility of nanoparticles in solutions. By measuring the power of the third harmonic generated in a diluted solution of nanoparticles, both the size and chi(3) can be extracted from a simple set of measurements.

Multistep cascading in periodically poled directional couplers.

We suggest a novel scheme for multistep cascaded parametric processes based on a periodically poled nonlinear directional coupler and derive the conditions for simultaneous phase matching of the second-harmonic generation and sum-frequency mixing processes. We predict an efficient wavelength conversion by the cascaded third-harmonic generation from the third optical communication window (1.53-1.56 microm) to visible in a LiNbO3 poled waveguide coupler.

10(-10) temporal contrast for femtosecond ultraintense lasers by cross-polarized wave generation.

We take advantage of nonlinear properties associated with chi(3) tensor elements in BaF2 cubic crystal to improve the temporal contrast of femtosecond laser pulses. The technique presented is based on cross-polarized wave (XPW) generation. We have obtained a transmission efficiency of 10% and 10(-10) contrast with an input pulse in the millijoule range. This filter does not affect the spectral shape or the phase of the cleaned pulse. It also acts as an efficient spatial filter. In this method the contrast enhancement is limited only by the extinction ratio of the polarization discrimination device.

All-optical deflection and splitting by second-order cascading.

We describe a novel type of second-order cascading by which the signal that is cross polarized to the pump can be split with an efficiency of more than 100%. The process requires the simultaneous phase matching of two second-order parametric interactions, whcih can easily be achieved with recently fabricated two-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystals.

Parametric vector solitons in tetragonal crystals.

We introduce novel types of spatial vector soliton that can be generated in anisotropic optical media, such as tetragonal crystals with third-order nonlinear susceptibility. We demonstrate that these vector solitons provide a nontrivial generalization to both conventional vector solitons of birefringent cubic media and parametric solitons supported by third-order cascaded nonlinearities.