Thermal lens and Z-scan have been the two most important and used techniques for determining third-order nonlinear optical properties and photothermal properties of optical materials. Both methods have response to thermal and electronic effects, depending on the magnitude of each effect and the experimental arrangement, one method becomes more suitable than the other in order to determine the desired property. In this paper the thermal lens effect is analyzed on time-resolved Z-scan measurements in the cw-single beam configuration. A ruby sample, which presents predominantly electronic effect, is compared to samples presenting predominant thermal effects. The theoretical and a complete experimental description are presented. The difference between both thermal and electronic effects on Z-scan method is assessed and quantified.

热透镜和Z扫描是确定光学材料的三阶非线性光学性质和光热性质的两个最重要和最常用的技术。两种方法都对热效应和电子效应有响应，这取决于每种效应的大小和实验安排，为了确定所需的特性，一种方法变得比另一种更适合。在本文中，在连续单光束配置的时间分辨Z扫描测量中分析了热透镜效应。将呈现主要电子效应的红宝石样品与呈现主要热效应的样品进行比较。介绍了理论和完整的实验说明。对Z扫描方法的热效应和电子效应之间的差异进行了评估和量化。