Quantitative assessment of nonlinearly absorbed energy in fused silica via time-resolved digital holography

Pulse temporal scaling of LIDT for anti-reflective coatings deposited on lithium triborate crystals

Anti-reflective (AR) coatings minimize photon losses of optics when it comes to the transmission of light, thus, are broadly used for imaging and laser applications. However, the maximum output power in high-power lasers is limited by the so-called laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) parameter of optical elements. Often AR coated nonlinear crystals are responsible for such limitations, however, LIDT data is rather scarce. Thus, only limited understanding about LIDT pulse temporal scaling laws for AR coatings exists, which also lacks the specificity about fatigue effect of distinct failure modes. To expand the present knowledge four identical lithium triborate (LBO) crystals were prepared. Each crystal had one side coated with the AR@1064+532 nm coating and the opposite side coated with the AR@355 nm coating. Multiple LIDT tests were then conducted following 1-on-1 and S-on-1 testing protocols at UV and IR wavelengths while varying laser pulse duration. Empirical scaling laws are then investigated for different failure modes and later interpreted using a numerical model.

Investigation of Nonlinear Optical Properties of Quantum Dots Deposited onto a Sample Glass Using Time-Resolved Inline Digital Holography

We report on the application of time-resolved inline digital holography in the study of the nonlinear optical properties of quantum dots deposited onto sample glass. The Fresnel diffraction patterns of the probe pulse due to noncollinear degenerate phase modulation induced by a femtosecond pump pulse were extracted from the set of inline digital holograms and analyzed. The absolute values of the nonlinear refractive index of both the sample glass substrate and the deposited layer of quantum dots were evaluated using the proposed technique. To characterize the inhomogeneous distribution of the samples' nonlinear optical properties, we proposed plotting an optical nonlinearity map calculated as a local standard deviation of the diffraction pattern intensities induced by noncollinear degenerate phase modulation.

Noncollinear degenerate phase modulation in samples with inhomogeneous optical nonlinear properties [Invited]

Digital inline pump-probe holography can be applied to estimate parameters of samples' optical nonlinear properties. Here we propose a mathematical model to describe noncollinear degenerate phase modulation in samples with inhomogeneities of nonlinear refractive index over all three dimensions, namely, two-layered samples and samples with local impurities. The impact of sample parameters in the considered configurations is analyzed. We show that analysis of inline digital holograms obtained by time-resolved inline digital holography can be successfully used for rapid detection and characterization of various types of nonlinear refractive index inhomogeneities.