We present a single shot method of measurement of the nonlinear refractive index of materials. In this method a single laser pulse is used in a setup similar to the Z-scan technique. It is therefore as simple and sensitive as the z- scan. In this method unlike the Z-scan, the sample is fixed with respect to the lens while the focus position is scanned across the sample (F-scan). The far field transmission of the beam through an aperture is then measured. This method eliminates the need to move the sample in addition to the measurement error due to peak power fluctuations from pulse to pulse.

Date Published: 19 July 1999
PDF: 2 pages
Proc. SPIE 3749, 18th Congress of the International Commission for Optics, (19 July 1999); doi: 10.1117/12.354981

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3749:
18th Congress of the International Commission for Optics
Alexander J. Glass; Joseph W. Goodman; Milton Chang; Arthur H. Guenther; Toshimitsu Asakura, Editor(s)