Non linear optics Labs - 5PMNTON5

Goal(s)

The objectives of this course are to train students to manipulate the theoretical notions of crystalline optics and nonlinear optics taught in class, and to use them during the manipulation of two experiments.

Content(s)

The students follow all 2 sessions of tutorials and by binomial 2 sessions of practical work.
A detailed 16-page handout is sent to them by email before the first lab session and a paper version is distributed at the first lab session.
The first experiment concerns the propagation of light in anisotropic crystals, it is interested in the direction of propagation of the light wave as well as in its polarization.

The second experiment exploits the nonlinear optical properties in a crystal to generate visible light, green at 532 nm, with optimal power, under phase tuning conditions. The nonlinear crystal receives a pulsed monochromatic laser emitting 1064 nm. The experimentally exploited process is the second harmonic generation (SHG). It allows us to understand all the other possible quadratic processes that can be generated in a nonlinear crystal. We are only interested in spontaneous processes by making sure that all the involved wavelengths belong to the transparency domain of the studied crystal.
The sample is a cylinder which highlights the conditions of light propagation in an anisotropic crystal and allows us to search for the optimal targeted SHG conditions.

geometric optics, wave optics and polarization of light
non-linear optics
laser physics