Controllable self-steepening of ultrashort pulses in quadratic nonlinear media

By analyzing ultrashort optical pulse propagation in quadratic nonlinear media beyond the slowly varying envelope approximation, we find that the sign and magnitude of self-steepening can be controlled through the wave vector mismatch. As an example of this phenomenon's impact on ultrashort pulse propagation, we show that it may be used to cancel the propagation effects of group-velocity mismatch. We obtain quantitative agreement between theory, simulations, and experiments.