Experimental investigation of cross-polarized wave generated with focused spatially dispersed beam

Summary form only given. The nonlinear process of cross polarized wave (XPW) generation, which has been broadly used for temporal contrast enhancement and spectral broadening [1, 2], continue to attract interest in different application schemes. A feature of space-time focusing (STF), which occurs at the focus of spatially dispersed beam, is to deliver highly localized intensity at the focus without incurring high non-linear losses during long distance propagation. A number of nonlinear optical processes have been used to study and to utilize STF: two-photon fluorescence [3], harmonic generation [4], plasma formation [5] and refractive index modification in solids [6]. In this paper XPW generation in BaF
₂
has been studied at the SST conditions of a compressed femtosecond pulse.