Extreme high-intensity and ultrabroadband interactions in anisotropic β-BaB_2O_4 crystals

Matteo Conforti (1) , Fabio Baronio (1)

1 Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione [Brescia]

We derive unidirectional pulse propagation equations to describe extreme high-intensity and ultra-broadband optical interactions in uniaxial crystals, showing both second-and third-order nonlinear optical susceptivities. We focus our attention on the anisotropic nature of the quadratic and cubic nonlinear response of β−BaB 2 O 4 (BBO) crystals. Two nonlinearly coupled first order (in the propagation coordinate) equations describe the dynamics and interactions of the ordinary and extraordinary field polarizations, and are valid for arbitrarily wide pulse bandwidth. We exploit this model to predict harmonic and supercontinuum generation in BBO crystals under strong and competing influence of quadratic and cubic susceptivities.

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Matteo Conforti, Fabio Baronio. Extreme high-intensity and ultrabroadband interactions in anisotropic β-BaB_2O_4 crystals. Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 2013, 30 (4), pp.1041. ⟨10.1364/JOSAB.30.001041⟩. ⟨hal-02394206⟩