Advanced Photonics with Second-Order Optically Nonlinear Processes: 61 (NATO Science Partnership Subseries: 3, 61) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0792353161 ISBN 13: 9780792353164

Publisher: Springer, 1998

Synopsis

Although it took some time to establish the word, photonics is both widely accepted and used throughout the world and a major area of activity concerns nonlinear materials. In these the nonlinearity mainly arises from second-order or third-order nonlinear optical processes. A restriction is that second-order processes only occur in media that do not possess a centre of symmetry. Optical fibres, on the other hand, being made of silica glass, created by fusing SiO molecules, are made of material with a centre of z symmetry, so the bulk of all processes are governed by third-order nonlinearity. Indeed, optical fibre nonlinearities have been extensively studied for the last thirty years and can be truly hailed as a success story of nonlinear optics. In fact, the fabrication ofsuch fibres, and the exploitation oftheir nonlinearity, is in an advanced stage - not least being their capacity to sustain envelope solitons. What then ofsecond-order nonlinearity? This is also well-known for its connection to second-harmonic generation. It is an immediate concern, however, to understand how waves can mix and conserve both energy and momentum ofthe photons involved. The problem is that the wave vectors cannot be made to match without a great deal of effort, or at least some clever arrangement has to be made - a special geometry, or crystal arrangement. The whole business is called phase­ matching and an inspection ofthe state-of-the-art today, reveals the subject to be in an advanced state.

About this title

Synopsis

The community of research workers interested in solitons and signal processing came to realise that there is more to the behaviour of crystals displaying second-order nonlinearity than creating second-harmonic sources. It turns out that there are also soliton - or, more correctly, solitary wave - solutions to the coupled equations which involve a balance between the fundamental wave and the co-propagating second-harmonic wave.Second-order nonlinearity, then, is attracting a lot of interest, both in the more traditional phase-matching requirements needed to generate second-harmonic waves very efficiently - see the drive to the blue laser or its alternatives - and in the new area of solitary waves. The present book is devoted to three main themes: solitons, quasi-phase matching, frequency conversion and parametric interactions. The material has been written by distinguished contributors and the range of topics, together with the emphasis put on them, gives the reader a depth of understanding firmly rooted in the basic material.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0792353161
• ISBN 13: 9780792353164
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 496
• Editor: Boardman A.D., Pavlov L., Tanev S.