Second harmonic generation in plasmas produced by intense femtosecond laser pulses

Author

von der Linde, Dietrich ; Schulz, Harald ; Engers, Torsten ; Schüler, Harald

Author_Institution

Inst. fuer Laser und Plasmaphys., Univ.-GHS-Essen, Germany

Volume

28

Issue

10

fYear

1992

fDate

10/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2388

Lastpage

2397

Abstract

Plasmas were produced by tightly focusing femtosecond laser pulses onto the surface of metal films and glass targets. A relatively intense, well-collimated second harmonic could be observed in the specular direction. The conversion efficiency reached 10^-4 for focused intensities around 10¹⁶ W/cm². Detailed measurements of the angular dependence, the polarization properties, and the second-harmonic frequency spectra were performed. Time-resolved pump-probe experiments revealed interesting information about the dynamics of the plasmas. It is suggested that resonant absorption plays an important role in second-harmonic generation

Keywords

focusing; glass; light propagation in plasma; metallic thin films; optical harmonic generation; plasma production and heating by laser beam; SHG; angular dependence; conversion efficiency; focused intensities; glass targets; intense femtosecond laser pulses; metal films; plasma dynamics; plasmas; polarization properties; resonant absorption; second-harmonic frequency spectra; specular direction; time resolved pump probe experiments; well-collimated second harmonic; Frequency conversion; Frequency measurement; Glass; Optical pulses; Performance evaluation; Plasma measurements; Plasma properties; Polarization; Resonance; Surface emitting lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.159545

Filename

159545