The normal elliptically polarized light Z-scan method is modified by adding a quarter-wave plate and an analyzer before the detector. The normalized transmittance formulas of modified elliptically polarized light Z-scan are obtained for media with negligible nonlinear absorption. Compared with normal linearly and elliptically polarized light Z-scan methods, an increase of sensitivity by a factor of larger than 4 is achieved for the real part of third-order susceptibility component's measurements using this modified elliptically polarized light Z-scan method. The analytical results are verified by studying the real part of independent susceptibility components of CS(2) liquid. Moreover, the potential application for cross-polarized wave generation is discussed.
(c) 2010 Optical Society of America.