Abstract

In excite-probe measurements with chirped, modelocked pulses of approximately 100 fs duration from a T:sapphire laser, we observe transient energy transfer in transparent dielectric solids. In the absence of dissipation, this energy transfer must be due to the finite response of the nonlinear polarization.¹ In our experiments, the possible mechanisms are restricted to either the nuclear or the bound electronic contribution to the nonlinear refractive index, n,. As we shall show, our studies, combining femtosecond and picosecond data, indicate that the effect is electronic, so that we may be measuring the finite response time of bound electrons.

© 1997 Optical Society of America