Review of measurements of Kerr nonlinearities in lithium niobate: the role of the delayed Raman response

Abstract

We review measurements in the literature regarding Kerr nonlinearity of lithium niobate. Of particular interest is to separate the value of the electronic Kerr nonlinearity and the strength of the delayed Raman nonlinearity. The spectral shape of the Raman response in LN is discussed and we restrict ourselves to the case where the pump is polarized along the optical axis. This configuration is important for so-called type 0 noncritical interaction, which is used in QPM devices and in recent supercontinuum generation and few-cycle soliton compression experiments.