TY - JOUR
T1 - Fine structure in spatial self-phase modulation patterns
T2 - At a glance determination of the sign of optical nonlinearity in highly nonlinear films
AU - Lucchetti, L.
AU - Suchand, S.
AU - Simoni, F.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - We present a fast and simple method to determine the sign of the nonlinear coefficient n2 in films with high nonlinearity. The method exploits the effect of spatial self-phase modulation and the role of wavefront curvature that leads to a specific far field pattern that is dependent on the sign of n2 and on the sample position. The method can be considered a 'visualization' of the Z-scan for highly nonlinear films. Application to nematic liquid crystals under different experimental conditions confirms the results expected from the theory.
AB - We present a fast and simple method to determine the sign of the nonlinear coefficient n2 in films with high nonlinearity. The method exploits the effect of spatial self-phase modulation and the role of wavefront curvature that leads to a specific far field pattern that is dependent on the sign of n2 and on the sample position. The method can be considered a 'visualization' of the Z-scan for highly nonlinear films. Application to nematic liquid crystals under different experimental conditions confirms the results expected from the theory.
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U2 - 10.1088/1464-4258/11/3/034002
DO - 10.1088/1464-4258/11/3/034002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:63749084962
SN - 1464-4258
VL - 11
JO - Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics
JF - Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics
IS - 3
M1 - 034002
ER -