Guided Wave Nonlinear Optics

The object of this school, held at Cargese, Corsica (France) from August 12th to 24th 1991, was the presentation of the field of guided wave nonlinear optics in a comprehensive, coherent, and heuristic fashion. It seems appropriate that this school began with an historical introduction by Professor Nicolaas Bloembergen of Harvard, the acknowledged "father" of nonlinear optics, in general, and concluded with a round table discussion headed by Dr. Eric Spitz, the Scientific Director of a multinational electronics company interested in developing industrial applications of guided wave nonlinear optics. The lectures covered both the theoretical framework of the field and applications to basic scientific research, optical communications and technical instrumentation. Specific topics developed included materials for guided wave nonlinear optics, nonlinear interactions using integrated optical guides, nonlinear surface waves, solitons, fiber nonlinear optics, ultra-fast coupler switching as well as the related topic of fiber and integrated optical lasers and amplifiers. Lectures have also been devoted to squeezed states, chaos and strange attractors. The subjects covered by the school underlines one of the major ways in which this field has evolved over the past thirty some odd years. The path from the original experiments with materials requiring mega-watt power lasers to the recent developments in guided wave configurations using milliwatt power diode lasers is marked by the conjunction of ever improving fundamental scientific comprehension and continuing technological developments.

"Experiments and theory have rapidly progressed on nonlinear optical extreme waves, showing that guided wave nonlinear optics and fiber lasers provide a relatively simple, accessible and controllable test bed for the observations and accurate statistical studies of extreme wave phenomena that obey the same universal rules, which apply to a large ensemble of different physical systems. With introductory material to make the subject area accessible to non-specialists such as graduate and PhD students, and researchers working in other areas where extreme waves are relevant, this book features contributions by prominent scientists in this emerging field and is a comprehensive treatment of optical extreme wave research."--Prové de l'editor.

The object of this school, held at Cargese, Corsica (France) from August 12th to 24th 1991, was the presentation of the field of guided wave nonlinear optics in a comprehensive, coherent, and heuristic fashion. It seems appropriate that this school began with an historical introduction by Professor Nicolaas Bloembergen of Harvard, the acknowledged "father" of nonlinear optics, in general, and concluded with a round table discussion headed by Dr. Eric Spitz, the Scientific Director of a multinational electronics company interested in developing industrial applications of guided wave nonlinear optics. The lectures covered both the theoretical framework of the field and applications to basic scientific research, optical communications and technical instrumentation. Specific topics developed included materials for guided wave nonlinear optics, nonlinear interactions using integrated optical guides, nonlinear surface waves, solitons, fiber nonlinear optics, ultra-fast coupler switching as well as the related topic of fiber and integrated optical lasers and amplifiers. Lectures have also been devoted to squeezed states, chaos and strange attractors. The subjects covered by the school underlines one of the major ways in which this field has evolved over the past thirty some odd years. The path from the original experiments with materials requiring mega-watt power lasers to the recent developments in guided wave configurations using milliwatt power diode lasers is marked by the conjunction of ever improving fundamental scientific comprehension and continuing technological developments.

Guided Wave Optics and Photonic Devices introduces readers to a broad cross-section of topics in this area, from the basics of guided wave optics and nonlinear optics to biophotonics. The book is inspired by and expands on lectures delivered by distinguished speakers at a three-week school on guided wave optics and devices organized at the CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute in Kolkata in 2011. An Introduction to Guided Wave Optics and Photonic Devices: Principles, Applications, and Future Directions The book discusses the concept of modes in a guided medium from first principles, emphasizing the importance of dispersion properties in optical fibers. It describes fabrication and characterization techniques of rare-earth-doped optical fibers for amplifiers and lasers, with an eye to future applications. Avoiding complex mathematical formalism, it also presents the basic theory and operational principles of fiber amplifiers and lasers. The book examines techniques for writing fiber Bragg gratings, which are of particular interest for smart sensing applications. A chapter focuses on the fundamental principles of Fourier optics and its implementation in guided wave optics. In addition, the book explains the critical phenomena of soliton dynamics and supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber, including its fabrication process and characteristics. It also looks at plasmonics in guided media and nonlinearity in stratified media—both key areas for future research. The last chapter explores the importance of lasers in biophotonic applications. Written by experts engaged in teaching, research, and development in optics and photonics, this reference brings together fundamentals and recent advances in one volume. It offers a valuable overview of the field for students and researchers alike and identifies directions for future research in guided wave and photonic device technology.

Praise for the 1st Edition: "well written and up to date.... The problem sets at the end of each chapter reinforce and enhance the material presented, and may give students confidence in handling real-world problems." ―Optics & Photonics News "rigorous but simple description of a difficult field keeps the reader’s attention throughout.... serves perfectly for an introductory-level course." ―Physics Today This fully revised introduction enables the reader to understand and use the basic principles related to many phenomena in nonlinear optics and provides the mathematical tools necessary to solve application-relevant problems. The book is a pedagogical guide aimed at a diverse audience including engineers, physicists, and chemists who want a tiered approach to understanding nonlinear optics. The material is augmented by numerous problems, with many requiring the reader to perform real-world calculations for a range of fields, from optical communications to remote sensing and quantum information. Analytical solutions of equations are covered in detail and numerical approaches to solving problems are explained and demonstrated. The second edition expands the earlier treatment and includes: A new chapter on quantum nonlinear optics. Thorough treatment of parametric optical processes covering birefringence, tolerances and beam optimization to design and build high conversion efficiency devices. Treatment of numerical methods to solving sets of complex nonlinear equations. Many problems in each chapter to challenge reader comprehension. Extended treatment of four-wave mixing and solitons. Coverage of ultrafast pulse propagation including walk-off effects.

This book consists of contributions by leading authorities in nonlinear optics and optical physics. The topics covered include fundamental theories and formalisms on nonlinear optics and current topics of interest in optical physics, as well as more specialized subjects such as phase conjugation, nonlinear guided waves, parametric oscillations and some novel materials. The coverage is comprehensive but pedagogical in nature.

Describing progress achieved in the field of nonlinear optics and nonlinear optical materials, the Handbook treats selected topics such as photorefractive materials, third-order nonlinear optical materials and organic nonlinear optical crystals, as well as electro-optic polymers. Applications of photorefractive materials in optical memories, optical processing, and guided-wave nonlinear optics in hotorefractive waveguides are described. As light will play a more and more dominant role as an information carrier, the review of existing and new materials given here makes this a keystone book in the field.