Research progress of third-order nonlinear optical effects excited by vectorial light fields （Invited）

Polarization-structured intense laser interacting with nonlinear optical material results in many novel third-order nonlinear optical effects, reflects the nonlinear optical property of the material, and modulates the propagation behavior of the beam itself. Herein, the research progress of third-order nonlinear optical effects excited by vectorial light fields was reviewed. Firstly, the basic theory of third-order nonlinear optical effects excited by arbitrary polarized lights was briefly introduced, such as nonlinear Schrödinger equation, beam propagation equation, and isotropic and anisotropic third-order nonlinear optical coefficients. The Z-scan techniquefor characterizing third-order nonlinear optical coefficients was also introducd. Under the weak focusing condition, the expressions for the focal field of three types of vectorial light fields were provided, i.e., radially polarized beams, hybridly polarized beams, and lemon-type Poincaré beams. Secondly, the isotropic and/or anisotropic third-order nonlinear optical effects excited by a variety of vectorial light fields was revisited, includinganisotropic nonlinear optical effects induced by radially polarized beams, isotropic and anisotropic Kerr nonlinearities excited by hybridly polarized beams, isotropic and anisotropic nonlinear optical effects induced by lemon-type Poincaré beams. Lastly, the prospects of their applications of vectorial light fields in nonlinear polarizationrotation, beam shaping, controllable field collapsing filaments, and optical limiting were briefly discussed.