Diffractive optics implementation of six-wave mixing

Diffractive optics are applied to six-wave mixing processes to provide a si ngle optic approach to attaining the required, relatively complex, phase-ma tching geometry to discriminate against lower-order nonlinear responses. Th e diffractive optics were designed specifically for broad-bandwidth operati on and passive phase locking of the appropriate pulse pairs for use in femt osecond two-dimensional Raman studies of the dynamic structure of liquids. The fifth-order signal was studied in liquid CS2; two different colors were used for the excitation and the probe to reduce background scatter, as wer e two different phase-matching geometries with different degrees of suppres sion of cascaded third-order processes. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America .