Authors

L. De Boni; C. Toro;F. E. Hernandez

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Opt. Express

Keywords

FEMTOSECOND CONTINUUM GENERATION; LASER-PULSES; FILAMENTATION; SPECTROSCOPY; Optics

Abstract

Supercontinuum (SC) generation is among the most interesting nonlinear optical effects lately discovered, due to the complexity of the mechanisms responsible for its generation. This phenomenon, first demonstrated by Alfano and Shapiro using picosecond pulses in condensed phase, has found novel applications in optical pulse compression, timeresolved spectroscopy and material characterization among many others. Here, we demonstrate that picosecond generated SC white-light in water preserves the polarization state: linear, elliptical and circular of the pump source. Moreover, we were able to determine the SC polarization rotation direction in the circular case. With the generation of pulsed circularly polarized SC, new studies and applications are envisaged in the biological, medical and pharmaceutical field. Amino acids, involved in the origin of life, and other chiral structures represent an attractive target for this type of study.

Journal Title

Optics Express

Volume

16

Issue/Number

2

Publication Date

1-1-2008

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

957

Last Page

964

WOS Identifier

WOS:000252479700047

ISSN

1094-4087

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