Evolution of the Polarization State of an Intense Electromagnetic Field in a Non-linear Medium

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The evolution of the polarization state of an elliptically polarized laser beam crossing a non-linear medium is studied for a wide range of laser input powers surrounding the self-focusing or stimulated Raman threshold. For powers inferior to that of the self-focusing threshold, the values of the real and imaginary parts of the xxyyx (y = y + y m y) component of the non-linear susceptibility tensor of several liquids are measured and the influence of two photon's absorption on the polarization state is studied. It is shown that for input powers near the self-focusing threshold, the ellipticity remains constant during self-focusing in the absence of non-linear absorption and diffusions. The influence of the stimulated Raman scattering on the polarization state of the exciting beam is observed for input powers larger than the Raman threshold.