Efficient generation of cross-polarized femtosecond pulses in cubic crystals with holographic cut orientation

Lorenzo Canova (1) , Stoyan Kourtev (2) , Nikolay Minkovski (2) , Aurélie Jullien (1) , Rodrigo B. Lopez-Martens (1) , Olivier Albert (1) , Solomon M. Saltiel (2)

1 LOA - Laboratoire d'optique appliquée
2 Faculty of Physics

We report here an alternative and more efficient orientation of cubic crystals for generation of cross-polarized femtosecond laser pulses. We show both theoretically and experimentally that the cross polarized wave generation (XPWG) is more efficient when the fundamental beam propagates along the [011] direction (holographic cut) in the crystal than along the [001] direction previously reported. With the [011]-cut BaF2 crystal we measured the highest XPWG conversion efficiencies. We prove other very important advantages of the [011]-cut approach: weak induced phase mismatch and no need for its compensation.

Keywords: barium compounds; high-speed optical techniques; laser beams; optical frequency conversion

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]

Lorenzo Canova, Stoyan Kourtev, Nikolay Minkovski, Aurélie Jullien, Rodrigo B. Lopez-Martens, et al.. Efficient generation of cross-polarized femtosecond pulses in cubic crystals with holographic cut orientation. Applied Physics Letters, 2008, 92 (23), pp.231102. ⟨10.1063/1.2939584⟩. ⟨hal-00528333⟩