Abstract
Broadband ultrafast optical signal processing functions such as second-harmonic generation (SHG), frequency up-conversion, autocorrelation or parametric amplification require highly nonlinear materials so as to minimize interaction length and detrimental pulse broadening effects1 SHG in thin crystalline slabs of 3-methyl-4-nitroaniline (MNA)2 has thus been studied using continuum pulses obtained from an amplified CRM dye laser. Thin (1- to 20-μm thick) crystals are able to frequency double in a single pulse a frequency domain ranging from 600 ran to 1400 nm. The frequency doubled spectrum, extending from 300-700 nm, exhibits a spectral interference fringing pattern3 reminiscent of angular Maker fringes and resulting from the dispersion of the coherence length. As a result of the very thin format of the crystal down to 2 pm, spectrally wide oscillation free regions are observed. Such a configuration is then applicable to the frequency doubling of pulses of a few femtosecond duration only4 Furthermore, the nonlinear optical coefficient of MNA is Large enough to ensure a doubling efficiency of near infrared light around 1 pm as high as that of a type I phasematched 200-μm thick KDP crystal.
© 1993 Optical Society of America
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