High sensitive measurements of absorption coefficient and optical nonlinearities

Accurate knowledge of absorption coefficient of a sample is a prerequisite for measuring the third-order optical nonlinearity of materials, which can be a serious limitation for unknown samples. We introduce a method, which measures both the absorption coefficient and the third-order optical nonlinearity of materials with high sensitivity in a single experimental arrangement. We use a dual-beam pump-probe experiment and conventional single-beam z-scan under different conditions to achieve this goal with communication relevant wavelength. We also demonstrate a counterintuitive coupling of the non-interacting probe-beam with the pump-beam in pump-probe z-scan experiment. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.