Self-induced transparency and self-induced darkening with a nonlinear frequency-doubling polarization interferometer

It is shown that the system polarizer-frequency-doubling crystal(s)-analyzer has a nonlinear transmission for the fundamental wave. The intensity-dependent transmission of this device is due to the nonlinear phase shift that the fundamental beam obtains in the nonlinear crystal as a result of cascaded second-order processes. Depending on the mutual orientation of the polarizer and the analyzer such effects as self-induced transparency and self-induced darkening can be realized.