Nonlinear Raman-Nath second harmonic generation with structured fundamental wave.

Abstract

We proposed and experimentally demonstrated that nonlinear Raman-Nath second harmonic can be achieved in real time when a fundamental wave with the phase periodically modulated, termed as structured fundamental wave, incident in a homogeneous nonlinear medium. The diffraction of second harmonic originates from the structured fundamental wave, rather than the grating of a nonlinear photonic crystal. Nonlinear second harmonic generation, in forms of both one- and two-dimensional, was investigated in our experiment. This method circumvents the limitation of nonlinear photonic crystals in some extend and has potential applications in nonlinear frequency conversion, optical signal processing and beam shaping, etc.