Nonlinear optics is a topic of much current interest that exhibits a great diversity. Some publications on the subject are clearly physics, while others reveal an engineering bias; some appear to be accessible to the chemist, while others may appeal to biological understanding. Yet all purport to be non linear optics so where is the underlying unity? The answer is that the unity lies in the phenomena and the devices that exploit them, while the diversity lies in the materials used to express the phenomena. This book is an attempt to show this unity in diversity by bringing together contributions covering an unusually wide range of materials, preceded by accounts of the main phenomena and important devices. Because ofthe diversity, individual materials are treated in separate chapters by different expert authors, while as editors we have shouldered the task of providing the unifying initial chapters. Most main classes of nonlinear optical solids are treated: semiconductors, glasses, ferroelectrics, molecular crystals, polymers, and Langmuir-Blodgett films. (However, liquid crystals are not covered. ) Each class of material is enough for a monograph in itself, and this book is designed to be an introduction suitable for graduate students and those in industry entering the area of nonlinear optics. It is also suitable in parts for final-year undergraduates on project work. It aims to provide a bridge between traditional fields of expertise and the broader field of nonlinear optics.

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.

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.

Nonlinear optical materials play a pivotal role in the future evolution of nonlinear optics in general and its impact in technology and industrial applications in particular. The progress in nonlinear optics has been tremendous since the first demonstration of an all-optical nonlinear effect in the early sixties, but until recently the main visible emphasis was on the physical aspects of the nonlinear radiation matter interaction. In the last decade, however, this effort has also brought its fruits in applied aspects of nonlinear optics. This can be essentially traced to the improvement of the performances of the nonlinear optical materials. Our understanding of the nonlinear polarization mechanisms and their relation to the structural characteristics of the materials has been considerably improved. In addition, the new development of techniques for the fabrication and growth of artificial materials has dramatically contributed to this evolution. The goal is to find and develop materials presenting large nonlinearities and satisfying at the same time all the technological requirements for applications such as wide transparency range, fast response, high damage threshold but also processability, adaptability and interfacing with other materials. Improvements, besides rendering possible the implementation of nonlinear effects in devices, open the way to the study of new nonlinear optical effects and the introduction of new concepts. This book describes new concepts which are emerging in the field of nonlinear optical materials, concentrating the attention on materials which seem more promising for applications in the technology of information transmission and processing.

Mathematical methods play a significant role in the rapidly growing field of nonlinear optical materials. This volume discusses a number of successful or promising contributions. The overall theme of this volume is twofold: (1) the challenges faced in computing and optimizing nonlinear optical material properties; and (2) the exploitation of these properties in important areas of application. These include the design of optical amplifiers and lasers, as well as novel optical switches. Research topics in this volume include how to exploit the magnetooptic effect, how to work with the nonlinear optical response of materials, how to predict laser-induced breakdown in efficient optical devices, and how to handle electron cloud distortion in femtosecond processes.

In recent years, optical properties of the unique atomic and molecular structures of materials have drawn great scientific interest. Linear optical properties of materials such as metals, metal oxides, magnetic oxides, and organic materials are based on energy transfer and find applications in wastewater treatment, forensic science, biomedical science, photovoltaics, nuclear technology, and LED displays. Nonlinear optical properties of materials are based on the nonlinear medium and find more advanced applications in frequency mixing generations and optical parametric oscillations. This book presents the underlying principles, implementation, and applications of the linear and nonlinear optical properties of materials and has been divided into two parts emphasizing these properties. The first part of the book, Linear Optics, discusses bimetallic nanoparticles in dielectric media and their integration to dye molecules to detect trace amounts of heavy metals at the nanometer level, as well as to enhance luminescence and image contrasts in forensic inspection and biomedical diagnosis. It shows how the integration of bimetallic nanoparticles into a ZnO matrix promotes broadening of the absorption spectrum from the ultraviolet to the visible wavelength. It explains the role of surface adsorption and photocatalytic degradation in dye-removal kinetics by Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles under pulsed white light. It also discusses the double-layer shielding tank design to safely store radioactive waste and photon propagation through the multilayer structures of a human tissue model. The second part of the book, Nonlinear Optics, presents general concepts such as electromagnetic theory, nonlinear medium, and wave propagation, as well as more advanced concepts such as second harmonic generation, phase matching, optical parametric interactions, different frequency generation, sum frequency generation, tunable laser, and optical resonant oscillator.

Organic Nonlinear Optical Materials provides an extensive description of the preparation and characterization of organic materials for applications in nonlinear and electro-optics. The book discusses the fundamental optimization and practical limitations of a number of figures of merit for various optical parameters and gives a clinical appraisal of the potential of organic materials for applicators in optical technology. Among the topics addressed are the basic molecular design of ;nonlinear optical chromophores, fundamentals and novel techniques of organic crystal growth, preparation and characterization of Langmuir-Blodgett and polymer films, experimental methods for determining microscopic and macroscopic optical properties. Also included is a discussion of first results of the photorefractive effect in organic crystals and the potential of organics for photorefractive applications, as well as an extensive review of published linear and nonlinear optical measurement of organic materials.