Spectrally resolved nonlinearities within a laser pulse in a single-scan and spectrometer-based nonlinear optical probing

Abstract

The intricate spectrally resolved optical nonlinearities resulting from a spectrally broad femtosecond Gaussian laser pulse have been unraveled using a single-scan and spectrometer-based nonlinear optical probing technique. The interaction of the broad femtosecond laser pulse with a strongly absorbing organic dye has unveiled a remarkably distinct nonlinear absorption behavior across the broad spectral window. The nonlinear absorption behavior unveils an unusual transition from the reverse saturation absorption (RSA) to the saturation absorption (SA) as we sweep the wavelength on both sides of the central wavelength of the excitation laser pulse. A competition between the band-filling and excited-state absorption results in such a dramatic switch-over from the RSA to the SA due to the variation of the intensity distribution across the Gaussian pulse spectrum. On the other hand, the nonlinear refraction studies dictate more over the constant Kerr-type positive nonlinear refractive indices across the entire laser pulse, with a pronounced contribution from the nonlinear absorption phase dominating at the center of the pulse. The presented technique establishes a robust and simple spectrometer-based technique that offers new, to the best of our knowledge, avenues for estimating optical nonlinearities for rapid nonlinear optical measurements.