Modeling of ultrabroadband and single-cycle phenomena in anisotropic quadratic crystals

Matteo Conforti (1) , Fabio Baronio (1) , Costantino de Angelis (1)

1 Department of Information Engineering [Brescia]

We present a comprehensive model to describe the propagation of single-cycle and broadband optical pulses in anisotropic, dispersive and nonlinear materials. Two nonlinear coupled wave equations describe the dynamics and interactions of optical pulses in uniaxial second-order nonlinear materials. The equations are first order in the propagation coordinate and are valid for arbitrarily wide pulse bandwidth, providing an accurate modeling of the evolution of ultra-broadband pulses also when the separation into different coupled frequency components is not possible or not profitable. We exploit this model to simulate recently observed femtosecond single-cycle multiterahertz transients in gallium selenide and to predict harmonic generation and spectral broadening in the visible and mid-infrared in lithium niobate.

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Matteo Conforti, Fabio Baronio, Costantino de Angelis. Modeling of ultrabroadband and single-cycle phenomena in anisotropic quadratic crystals. Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 2011, 28 (5), pp.1231. ⟨10.1364/JOSAB.28.001231⟩. ⟨hal-02395381⟩