Contribution of third-harmonic and negative-frequency polarization fields to self-phase modulation in nonlinear media

We study the influence of third-harmonic generation (THG) and negative-frequency polarization terms in the self-phase modulation (SPM) of short and intense pulses in Kerr media. We find that THG induces additional symmetric lobes in the SPM process. The amplitude of these new sidebands are greatly enhanced by the contributions of the negative-frequency Kerr (NFK) term and the shock operator. We compare our theoretical predictions based on the analytical nonlinear phase with simulations carried out by using the full unidirectional pulse propagation equation (UPPE). (C) 2015 Optical Society of Americ