Advances In Nonlinear Photonics

Advances in Nonlinear Photonics combines fundamental principles with an overview of the latest developments. The book is suitable for the multidisciplinary audience of photonics researchers and practitioners in academia and R&D, including materials scientists and engineers, applied physicists, chemists, etc. As nonlinear phenomena are at the core of photonic devices and may enable future applications such as all-optical switching, all-optical signal processing and quantum photonics, this book provides an overview of key concepts. In addition, the book reviews the most important advances in the field and how nonlinear processes may be exploited in different photonic applications. Introduces fundamental principles of nonlinear phenomena and their application in materials and devices Reviews and provides definitions of the latest research directions in the field of nonlinear photonics Discusses the most important developments in materials and applications, including future prospects

Advances in Nonlinear Photonics combines fundamental principles with an overview of the latest developments. The book is suitable for the multidisciplinary audience of photonics researchers and practitioners in academia and R&D, including materials scientists and engineers, applied physicists, chemists, etc. As nonlinear phenomena are at the core of photonic devices and may enable future applications such as all-optical switching, all-optical signal processing and quantum photonics, this book provides an overview of key concepts. In addition, the book reviews the most important advances in the field and how nonlinear processes may be exploited in different photonic applications. Introduces fundamental principles of nonlinear phenomena and their application in materials and devices Reviews and provides definitions of the latest research directions in the field of nonlinear photonics Discusses the most important developments in materials and applications, including future prospects

This book presents an overview of the state of the art of nonlinear optics from weak light nonlinear optics, ultrafast nonlinear optics to electro-optical theory and applications. Topics range from the fundamental studies of the interaction between matter and radiation to the development of devices, components, and systems of tremendous commercial interest for widespread applications in optical telecommunications, medicine, and biotechnology.

This book presents an overview of the state of the art of the developing topic of nonlinear optics with contributions from leading experts in the field in China, ranging from weak light nonlinear optics, ultrafast nonlinear optics to electro-optical theory and applications. In the past decade, nonlinear optics has evolved into many different branches, depending on the form of the material used for studying the nonlinear phenomena. The growth of research in nonlinear optics is closely linked to the rapid technological advances that have occurred in related fields, such as ultra-fast phenomena and optical communications. Nonlinear-optics activities range from the fundamental studies of the interaction between matter and radiation to the development of devices, components, and systems of tremendous commercial interest for widespread applications in optical telecommunications, medicine, and biotechnology. This book reviews the development of some nonlinear optics researches in China, not only the discovery of new principles, but also potential applications of nonlinear optics for various industries.

In recent years, there is increasing interest in the research on optical fibre nanowires or microfibers (MFs) which are fibres with submicrometer- and nanometer- diameter. The size is tens to thousands of times thinner than the standard optical fibre. With the advantages of large evanescent fields, high nonlinearity, extreme flexibility and configurability and low-loss interconnection to other optical fibres and fiberized components，they have found potential applications in a wide range of fields of optical communications, sensing, lasers, biology and chemistry. This book discusses the fundamentals, applications and technological advances of non-linear optics.

The first nonlinear optical effect was observed in the 19th century by John Kerr. Nonlinear optics, however, started to grow up only after the invention of the laser, when intense light sources became easily available. The seminal studies by Peter Franken and Nicolaas Bloembergen, in the 1960s, paved the way for the development of today’s nonlinear photonics, the field of research that encompasses all the studies, designs, and implementations of nonlinear optical devices that can be used for the generation, communication, and processing of information. This field has attracted significant attention, partly due to the great potential of exploiting the optical nonlinearities of new or advanced materials to induce new phenomena and achieve new functions. According to Clarivate Web of Science, almost 200,000 papers were published that refer to the topic “nonlinear optic*”. Over 36,000 papers were published in the last four years (2015–2018) with the same keyword, and over 17,000 used the keyword “nonlinear photonic*”. The present Special Issue of Micromachines aims at reviewing the current state of the art and presenting perspectives of further development. Fundamental and applicative aspects are considered, with special attention paid to hot topics that may lead to technological and scientific breakthroughs.

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.

Deals with the fundamental properties of photon and light beams, both experimentally and theoretically. It covers the essentials of linear interactions and most of the nonlinear interactions between light and matter in both the transparent and absorbing cases. About 4000 references open access to original literature.