Nonlinear Optics

Examining classic theories, experimental methods, and practical formulas for exploration of the core topics in nonlinear optics, the second edition of this acclaimed text was extensively revised to reflect recent advances in the analysis and modification of material properties for application in frequency conversion, optical switching and limiting, multiphoton absorption, and electro-optic effects. Handbook of Nonlinear Optics, Second Edition contains additional chapters on ultrafast characterization techniques, laser flash photolysis, and the electro-optic effect as well as expanded coverage of nonlinear optics in fibers and pulsed two-beam coupling.

Nonlinear optics has been a rapidly growing field in recent decades. It is based on the study of effects and phenomena related to the interaction of intense coherent light radiation with matter. Physics of Nonlinear Optics describes various major nonlinear optical effects, including physical principles, experimental techniques, up-to-date research achievements, and current or potential applications. This book features clear conceptual descriptions, concise formulations, and emphasizes both theoretical and experimental aspects of nonlinear optics. The readability of this book is particularly enhanced by a series of color photographs showing the spectacular appearances of various nonlinear optical effects. Both authors of this book are outstanding research scientists renowned in their professional areas. Their major research achievements in nonlinear optics include the pioneering studies of two-wave-coupled refractive-index change, Raman-enhanced self-focusing, optical-frequency Pockels effect, stimulated Kerr scattering, optical phase-conjugation via backward stimulated emission, and two-photon-absorption based optical limiting, stabilization and reshaping.

Contemporary Nonlinear Optics discusses the different activities in the field of nonlinear optics. The book is comprised of 10 chapters. Chapter 1 presents a description of the field of nonlinear guided-wave optics. Chapter 2 surveys a new branch of nonlinear optics under the heading optical solitons. Chapter 3 reviews recent progress in the field of optical phase conjugation. Chapter 4 discusses ultrafast nonlinear optics, a field that is growing rapidly with the ability of generating and controlling femtosecond optical pulses. Chapter 5 examines a branch of nonlinear optics that may be termed nonlinear quantum optics. Chapter 6 reviews the new field of photorefractive adaptive neural networks. Chapter 7 presents a discussion of recent successes in the development of nonlinear optical media based on organic materials. Chapter 8 reviews the field of nonlinear optics in quantum confined structures. Chapter 9 reviews the field of nonlinear laser spectroscopy, with emphasis on advances made during the 1980s. Finally, Chapter 10 reviews the field of nonlinear optical dynamics by considering nonlinear optical systems that exhibit temporal, spatial, or spatio-temporal instabilities. This book is a valuable source for physicists and other scientists interested in optical systems and neural networks.

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 is about Nonlinear Optics, the study of how high-intensity light propagates through and interacts with matter. It takes the reader from the starting point of Maxwell's equations to some of the frontiers of modern research in the subject.

The book is designed to serve as a textbook for courses offered to upper-undergraduate students enrolled in physics. The first edition of this book was published in 2014. As there is a demand for the next edition, it is quite natural to take note of the several advances that have occurred in the subject over the past five years and to decide which of these are appropriate for inclusion at the textbook level, given the fundamental nature and the significance of the subject area. This is the prime motivation for bringing out a revised second edition. Among the newer mechanisms and materials, the book introduces the super-continuum generation, which arises from an excellent interplay of the various mechanisms of optical nonlinearity. The topics covered in this book are quantum mechanics of nonlinear interaction of matter and radiation, formalism and phenomenology of nonlinear wave mixing processes, optical phase conjugation and applications, self-focusing and self-phase modulation and their role in pulse modification, nonlinear absorption mechanisms, and optical limiting applications, photonic switching and bi-stability, and physical mechanisms leading to a nonlinear response in a variety of materials. This book has emerged from an attempt to address the requirement of presenting the subject at the college level. This textbook includes rigorous features such as the elucidation of relevant basic principles of physics; a clear exposition of the ideas involved at an appropriate level; coverage of the physical mechanisms of non-linearity; updates on physical mechanisms and emerging photonic materials and emphasis on the experimental study of nonlinear interactions. The detailed coverage and pedagogical tools make this an ideal textbook for students and researchers enrolled in physics and related courses.

Since the early days of nonlinear optics in the 1960s, the field has expanded dramatically, and is now a vast and vibrant field with countless technological applications. Providing a gentle introduction to the principles of the subject, this textbook is ideal for graduate students starting their research in this exciting area. After basic ideas have been outlined, the book offers a thorough analysis of second harmonic generation and related second-order processes, before moving on to third-order effects, the nonlinear optics of short optical pulses and coherent effects such as electromagnetically-induced transparency. A simplified treatment of high harmonic generation is presented at the end. More advanced topics, such as the linear and nonlinear optics of crystals, the tensor nature of the nonlinear coefficients and their quantum mechanical representation, are confined to specialist chapters so that readers can focus on basic principles before tackling these more difficult aspects of the subject.

Following the birth of the laser in 1960, the field of "nonlinear optics" rapidly emerged. Today, laser intensities and pulse durations are readily available, for which the concepts and approximations of traditional nonlinear optics no longer apply. In this regime of "extreme nonlinear optics," a large variety of novel and unusual effects arise, for example frequency doubling in inversion symmetric materials or high-harmonic generation in gases, which can lead to attosecond electromagnetic pulses or pulse trains. Other examples of "extreme nonlinear optics" cover diverse areas such as solid-state physics, atomic physics, relativistic free electrons in a vacuum and even the vacuum itself. This book starts with an introduction to the field based primarily on extensions of two famous textbook examples, namely the Lorentz oscillator model and the Drude model. Here the level of sophistication should be accessible to any undergraduate physics student. Many graphical illustrations and examples are given. The following chapters gradually guide the student towards the current "state of the art" and provide a comprehensive overview of the field. Every chapter is accompanied by exercises to deepen the reader's understanding of important topics, with detailed solutions at the end of the book.