Simulation of harmonic and supercontinuum generation in polycrystalline media

Abstract

Highly efficient, broadband frequency conversion in polycrystalline zinc-blende media receives increasing interest, motivated by both applications and understanding of the underlying processes. However, realistic simulations of the complex physics, in which random quasi-phase-matching plays a major role, is challenging because of the disorder. Here we present a family of models of increasing complexity, including a (3 + 1)D model with full resolution in time and space. Using ZnSe as the demonstration medium, we show that while a small-beam, axially symmetric approximation is able to provide qualitatively correct spectra at a low computation cost, the computationally more demanding (3 + 1)D approach achieves semi-quantitative agreement between the simulated supercontinuum spectrum and experiment results. The fully resolved (3 + 1)D simulations thus provide an accurate new tool for the characterization and optimization of supercontinuum generation in transparent polycrystals.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Apr 28, 2020
Source ID
10.1364/josab.388914

Entities

People

  • Jiahui Gu
  • Michael G. Hastings
  • Miroslav Kolesik

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.

Technology Areas

  • Space