Abstract

Experiments have demonstrated that non-Gaussian fluctuation statistics of the electric field within a laser pulse can affect the spectral shapes and intensities of CARS measurements.¹ These effects, attributed to the statistical properties of the second harmonic field of the particular Nd:YAG laser used, can influence diagnostic measurements analyzed from the data. A qualitative model that treats the second harmonic field as the square of a Gaussian field will be compared to observations. (This non-Gaussian model is equivalent to assuming a Gaussian output field from the Nd:YAG laser that is frequency doubled with low conversion efficiency.²⁾ Despite the simplicity of the approach, the calculations exhibit all the non-Gaussian effects observed in the experiments.

© 1986 Optical Society of America