Z-scan analysis of high-order nonlinear refraction effect induced by using elliptic Gaussian beam

The irradiance of an elliptic Gaussian beam that is high enough to excite high-order nonlinear refraction effect is used to calculate the normalized on-axis transmittance function in the z-scan technique by introducing complex beam parameters which make the calculation simpler. The transmittance formula is applied to the first-, first two-, and first three-order nonlinearities. Numerical evaluation shows that the symmetry no longer holds when using an elliptic Gaussian beam instead of a circular Gaussian beam. A distortion is observed in the central part of the curve, which decreases as ellipticity increases. Moreover, the variation of the normalized peak-valley difference decreases as ellipticity decreases.