Revisiting interferences for measuring and optimizing optical nonlinearities

TL;DR

This paper introduces an interference-based method to measure and optimize optical nonlinearities, demonstrating significant enhancements in nonlinear processes through experimental validation and control strategies.

Contribution

It presents a novel interference-based approach for measuring and optimizing optical nonlinearities, enabling substantial process enhancements.

Findings

Effective measurement of intensity-dependent photoionization.

Ability to control and optimize nonlinear processes at constant energy.

Enhancements reaching several orders of magnitude.

Abstract

A method based on optical interferences for measuring optical nonlinearities is presented. In a proof-of-principle experiment, the technique is applied to the experimental determination of the intensity dependence of the photoionization process. It is shown that it can also be used to control and optimize the nonlinear process itself at constant input energy. The presented strategy leads to enhancements that can reach several orders of magnitude for highly nonlinear processes.