Applications of new interference effects in optical harmonic

Abstract

Recently, we noted that in special conditions, complete destructive interference is observed between different optical harmonics.1 The conditions for observing such an effect in a gas are that the medium be optically thin at the driving laser frequency ω1 and that an odd harmonic be generated (e.g., ω3 = 3ω1 at a frequency where the medium is optically thick. If these two conditions are met, the magnitudes of the fields at E(ω1) are dynamically adjusted to drive the dipole transition near ω3 with the same force. © 1983 Optical Society of America