Nonlinear absorption and refraction in near-detuned rubidium vapor

Light guiding light: Nonlinear refraction in rubidium vapor

Recently there has been experimental and theoretical interest in cross-dispersion effects in rubidium vapor, which allows one beam of light to be guided by another. We present theoretical results which account for the complications created by the D line hyperfine structure of rubidium as well as the presence of the two major isotopes of rubidium. This allows the complex frequency dependence of ...

Two photon absorption, nonlinear refraction, and optical limiting in semiconductors

Numerical study of surface plasmon enhanced nonlinear absorption and refraction.

Maxwell Garnett effective medium theory is used to study the influence of silver nanoparticle induced field enhancement on the nonlinear response of a Kerr-type nonlinear host. We show that the composite nonlinear absorption coefficient, beta(c), can be enhanced relative to the host nonlinear absorption coefficient near the surface plasmon resonance of silver nanoparticles. This enhancement is ...

Water vapor absorption of visible and near infrared radiation.

Water vapor error function absorption coefficients for visible and near ir radiation have been recalculated from experimental transmission data. The error function absorption coefficients and the resulting transmissions as a function of precipitable water vapor are tabulated for wavelengths from 0.2 micro to 1.3 micro. Comparisons are made between computed and measured spectral transmittances.

All-optical switching in rubidium vapor.

We report on an all-optical switch that operates at low light levels. It consists of laser beams counterpropagating through a warm rubidium vapor that induce an off-axis optical pattern. A switching laser beam causes this pattern to rotate even when the power in the switching beam is much lower than the power in the pattern. The observed switching energy density is very low, suggesting that the...