Modeling of ultrabroadband and single-cycle phenomena in anisotropic quadratic crystals

International audienceWe present a comprehensive model to describe the propagation of single-cycle and broadband optical pulses in anisotropic, dispersive and nonlinear materials. Two nonlinear coupled wave equations describe the dynamics and interactions of optical pulses in uniaxial second-order nonlinear materials. The equations are first order in the propagation coordinate and are valid for arbitrarily wide pulse bandwidth, providing an accurate modeling of the evolution of ultra-broadband pulses also when the separation into different coupled frequency components is not possible or not profitable. We exploit this model to simulate recently observed femtosecond single-cycle multiterahertz transients in gallium selenide and to predict harmonic generation and spectral broadening in the visible and mid-infrared in lithium niobate