Mid-IR femtosecond frequency conversion by soliton-probe collision in phase-mismatched quadratic nonlinear crystals

Abstract

We show numerically that ultrashort self-defocusing temporal solitons colliding with a weak pulsed probe in the near-IR can convert the probe to the mid-IR. A near-perfect conversion efficiency is possible for a high effective soliton order. The near-IR self-defocusing soliton can form in a quadratic nonlinear crystal (beta-barium borate) in the normal dispersion regime due to cascaded (phase-mismatched) second-harmonic generation, and the mid-IR converted wave is formed in the anomalous dispersion regime between $\lambda =2.2-2.4\mu \mathrm{m}$ as a resonant dispersive wave. This process relies on non-degenerate four-wave mixing mediated by an effective negative cross-phase modulation term caused by cascaded soliton-probe sum-frequency generation.

Longer version with appendix

References in corpus (6)

• Fiber-optical analogue of the event horizon
• Nonlinear optics of fibre event horizons
• Nonlocal explanation of stationary and nonstationary regimes in cascaded soliton pulse compression
• Scaling laws for soliton pulse compression by cascaded quadratic nonlinearities
• The anisotropic Kerr nonlinear refractive index of the beta-barium borate (β-BaB2O4) nonlinear crystal
• Energetic mid-IR femtosecond pulse generation by self-defocusing soliton-induced dispersive waves in a bulk quadratic nonlinear crystal

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Experimental observation of long-wavelength dispersive wave generation induced by self-defocusing nonlinearity in BBO crystal
• Directional supercontinuum generation: the role of the soliton
• Nonuniformly Filled Vortex Rings in Nonlinear Optics
• Stabilization of Optical Bubbles Near the Axis of a Helical Waveguide
• An Optical Analog for a Rotating Binary Bose-Einstein Condensate