The second-harmonic generation (SHG) of ultrashort Ti:sapphire laser p
ulses in potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystal in type-I phase-matchi
ng geometry has been investigated theoretically, including the effects
of cubic nonlinearity. It is found that the phase mismatch due to the
broad bandwidth associated with the short pulse width limits the maxi
mum conversion efficiency to less than 60%, and the temporal shape of
the converted pulse has an intensity modulation at an incident intensi
ty of 100 GW/cm(2) for a 100 fs pulse. In order to increase the energy
conversion efficiency and improve the temporal pulse shape, a new SHG
geometry using two antiparallel tilted crystals is discussed. (C) 199
8 American Institute of Physics.