Third and fifth harmonic generation by tightly focused femtosecond pulses at 2.2 μm wavelength in air

Opt Express. 2012 Jan 16;20(2):1662-7. doi: 10.1364/OE.20.001662.

Abstract

We report experiments on the generation of third and fifth harmonics of millijoule-level, tightly focused, femtosecond laser pulses at 2.2 μm wavelength in air. The measured ratio of yields of the third and fifth harmonics in our setup is found equal to 2 · 10(-4). This result contradicts the recent suggestion that the Kerr effect in air saturates and changes sign in ultra-intense optical fields.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Air
  • Equipment Design
  • Lasers*
  • Lenses
  • Optics and Photonics / instrumentation*
  • Optics and Photonics / methods*
  • Refractometry / instrumentation*
  • Refractometry / methods*