Laser-induced microwave generation with nonlinear optical crystals

We report about a novel technique to generate microwave radiation by the irradiation of a nonlinear optical crystal with uniformly spaced, ultrashort optical pulses delivered by a mode-locked laser. We study systematically the laser polarization and intensity dependence of the microwave signal to conclusively show that it is a nonlinear phenomenon and that it originates from optical rectification. The measurements have been conducted using KTP, LBO and ZnSe crystals. The observed pulsed microwave signals are harmonically related to the laser pulses repetition rate, a feature that can be exploited to develop an innovative ultrafast laser detector.