Photon diffusion in space and time in a second-order nonlinear disordered medium

Abstract

We report experimental and theoretical investigations on photon diffusion in a second-order nonlinear disordered medium under conditions of strong nonlinearity. Experimentally, photons at the fundamental wavelength ($λ=1064$ nm) are launched into the structure in the form of a cylindrical pellet, and the second-harmonic ($λ=532$ nm) photons are temporally analyzed in transmission. For comparison, separate experiments are carried out with incident green light at $λ=532$ nm. We observe that the second harmonic light peaks earlier compared to the incident green photons. Next, the sideways spatial scattering of the fundamental as well as second-harmonic photons is recorded. The spatial diffusion profiles of second-harmonic photons are seen to peak deeper inside the medium in comparison to both the fundamental and incident green photons. In order to give more physical insights into the experimental results, a theoretical model is derived from first principles. It is based on the coupling of transport equations. Solved numerically using a Monte Carlo algorithm and experimentally estimated transport parameters at both wavelengths, it gives excellent semi-quantitative agreement with the experiments for both fundamental and second-harmonic light.