Rank Prize Funds Minisymposium on Non-classical Light for Communication |
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Authors: | Ian Garrett Peter Knight Rodney Loudon |
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Affiliation: | Laser Physics Group , The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College , London, SW7 2BZ, UK |
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Abstract: | Abstract We studied both experimentally and theoretically the transmission and polarization characteristics of a Cr4+ : YAG saturable absorber crystal as a function of the intensity and polarization state of an incident laser beam. We found that a birefringent absorption behaviour is induced and we show that the experimental results are well described by a full numerical model which includes excited-state absorption as well as a ground-state cross-absorption term. By using pump-probe measurements we show that a finite cross-saturation of the absorption is achieved along the crystal axes orthogonal to the polarization of the optical radiation. No induced refractive index birefringence is observed. |
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