The ultrafast third-order optical nonlinearity of c-plane GaN crystal, excited by ultrashort (fs) high-repetition-rate laser pulses at 1550 nm, wavelength important for optical communications, is investigated for the first time by optical third-harmonic generation in non-phase-matching conditions. As the thermo-optic effect that can arise in the sample by cumulative thermal effects induced by high-repetition-rate laser pulses cannot be responsible for the third-harmonic generation, the ultrafast nonlinear optical effect of solely electronic origin is the only one involved in this process. The third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility of GaN crystal responsible for the third-harmonic generation process, an important indicative parameter for the potential use of this material in ultrafast photonic functionalities, is determined.
Time resolved measurements of melting and solidification in Si using third harmonic generation of light