Diffraction of white-light supercontinuum by femtosecond laser-induced transient grating in carbon bisulfide

Experiments on fs laser-induced transient grating (LITG) in carbon bisulfide (CS₂) are carried out to explore the chirp characteristics of a white-light supercontinuum (SC) generated by a 800-nm, 160-fs laser pulse in a 4-mm thick Al₂O₃ crystal. Two orders of diffraction signals of SC by fs LITG in CS₂ are observed, demonstrating that both the third-order process and the fifth-order process are present simultaneously. The experimental results also imply that the formation of an fs transient refractive-index grating in CS₂ is mainly due to the electronic polarization process.