This article presents a brief introduction to the birth and early investigations of nonlinear optics, such as second harmonic generation,sum and difference frequency generation, stimulated Raman scattering,and self-action of light etc. Several important research achievements and applications of nonlinear optics are presented as well, including nonlinear optical spectroscopy, phase conjugation and adaptive optics, coherent nonlinear optics, and high-order harmonic generation. In the end, current and future research topics in nonlinear optics are summarized. (authors)
This article presents a brief introduction to the birth and early investigations of nonlinear optics, such as second harmonic generation,sum and difference frequency generation, stimulated Raman scattering,and self-action of light etc. Several important research achievements and applications of nonlinear optics are presented as well, including nonlinear optical spectroscopy, phase conjugation and adaptive optics, coherent nonlinear optics, and high-order harmonic generation. In the end, current and future research topics in nonlinear optics are summarized. (authors)
Selected topics related to the fundamentals of nonlinear optics are discussed. First, a brief description on the theory of nonlinear optical susceptibilities is given. Emphasis is on the basic properties, on the recently developed bond theory, and on the dispersion of nonlinear susceptibilities. Then the coupled wave approach is discussed. It is shown that the transverse resonant excitation in material can be treated as a material excitational wave, and most nonlinear optics problems can be understood as results of coupling between em waves or em and material excitational waves. A number of examples of current interest are presented. These include sum- and difference-frequency generation, Raman scattering by coherent excitation, stimulated Raman and stimulated polariton scattering, four-wave mixing, and vibrational relaxation measurements. Finally, the physical distinction between laser emission and resonant stimulated Raman scattering in an optically pumped three-level system are considered. A similar problem on the distinction of hot luminescence and resonant Raman scattering has recently attracted much attention. It is shown that the hot laser action is connected directly with the population inversion, while the resonant stimulated Raman scattering is connected with transverse excitation. The problem is, however, more complicated for a multi-level system. (auth)
There has recently been a rapid growth of activity in nonlinear optics. Effects such as frequency doubling, stimulated Raman scattering, phase conjugation and solitons are of great interest both for their fundamental properties and their many important applications in science and engineering. It is mainly these applications - especially in telecommunications and information processing - that have stimulated the recent surge of activity. This book is a self contained account of the most important principles of nonlinear optics. Assuming only a familiarity with basic mathematics, the fundamentals of nonlinear optics are fully developed from basic concepts. The essential quantum mechanical apparatus is introduced and explained. In later chapters the underlying ideas are illustrated by discussing particular experimental configurations and materials. This book will be an invaluable introduction to the field for beginning graduates in physics or engineering, and will provide an excellent overview and reference work for active researchers in the field.
The real-time information processing and manipulation of electromagnetic waves using nonlinear Qptical techniques has resulted in a myriad of new applications in diverse fields such as quantum electronics, image processing, optical computing, adaptive optics, and nonlinear spectroscopy. In this paper, we review and explore the field, provide a historical perspective, analyze several of the nonlinear interactions useful for the generation of phase-conjugate replicas, and conclude with a brief survey of potential applications and suitable nonlinear media.
Partial table of contents: PART I: GENERAL CONCEPTS AND METHODS OF NONLINEAR OPTICS. Electromagnetic Fields. Classical Description. The Quantized Free Radiation Field. Interaction Between Radiation and Matter. Semiclassical Description of Nonlinear Optics. Statistical and Coherence Properties of the Radiation Field and Their Measurement. Nonstationary Processes. PART II: EFFECTS AND PROCESSES OF NONLINEAR OPTICS. Nonlinear One--photon Processes in Lasers. Nonlinearities in Transient One--photon Processes. Nonlinearities and Qunatum Phenomena in Transient One--photon Processes. Multiphoton Absorption and Emission. Generation of Harmonics and Sum and Difference Frequencies. Parametric Amplification and Oscillation. Stimulated Raman Scattering. Optical Bistability. APPENDIX A: Compilation of Quantum--Theoretical Definitions and Relations. General References. Index.
This topical issue of Quantum and Semiclassical Optics contains a series of articles presented at the workshop ` Second Order Nonlinear Optics: from Fundamentals to Applications', held in l'Ecole de Physique des Houches (Haute-Savoie, France) from 22 to 26 April 1996. The recent development of new laser sources, such as diode-pumped solid-state lasers, and the availability of new highly nonlinear materials (including artificial materials based on quasi-phase-matched techniques) has induced a revival of the field of second order nonlinear optics. This research covers a broad spectrum, ranging from fundamentals (generation of nonclassical states of light, amplification without added noise, frequency division chain, etc.) to applications (spectroscopy, teledetection, metrology, communications, etc.), through the development of new light sources (coherent and tunable, pulsed or continuous wave) and of new optronic devices. The purpose of this workshop was to gather together researchers from different cultures and horizons (fundamental and applied research, industry) who contribute to the dissemination of advanced knowledge and the formation of contacts among scientists from different countries. A significant effort was made by the lecturers to give talks that could be easily understood by nonspecialists of the domain and to cover in a synthetic way the different aspects of second order nonlinear optics. The topics cover both physics and engineering aspects of the field and present an up-to-date survey of current research in second order nonlinear optics. The 72 participants from 13 countries attended 29 lectures presented by 27 lecturers over five extensive working days in an informal and fruitful way. Participants were given a chance to present their own work through 24 poster papers in two very lively sessions. The Editors would like to thank the authors for their excellent contributions to this volume. The organisers are grateful for the help of many organisations in the success of the school. The principal sponsors were CNRS, CEA, DRET, Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, the European Community (EC) and THOMSON-CSF. We also wish to express our deepest gratitude to the local organising team for their unstinting efforts. Guest Editors Claude Fabre and Jean-Paul Pocholle The abstracts for the poster papers appear in the PostScript and PDF files.
Research into slow light began theoretically in 1880 with the paper [1] of H A Lorentz, who is best known for his work on relativity and the speed of light. Experimental work started some 60 years later with the work of S L McCall and E L Hahn [2] who explored non-linear self-induced transparency in ruby. This field of research has burgeoned in the last 10 years, starting with the work of L Vestergaard Hau and coworkers on slow light via electromagnetically induced transparency in a Bose–Einstein condensate [3]. Many groups are now able to slow light down to a few metres per second or even stop the motion of light entirely [4]. Today, slow light – or more often `slow and fast light' – has become its own vibrant field with a strongly increasing number of publications. In broad scope, slow light research can be categorized in terms of the sort of physical mechanism used to slow down the light. One sort of slow light makes use of material dispersion. This dispersion can be the natural dispersion of the ordinary refractive index or can be the frequency dependence of some nonlinear optical process, such as electromagnetically induced transparency, coherent population oscillations, stimulated light scattering, or four-wave mixing processes. The second sort of slow light makes use of the wavelength dependence of artificially structured materials, such as photonic crystals, optical waveguides, and collections of microresonators. Material systems in which slow light has been observed include metal vapours, rare-earth-doped materials, Raman and Brillioun gain media, photonic crystals, microresonators and, more recently, metamaterials. A common feature of all of these schemes is the presence of a sharp single resonance or multiple resonances produced by an atomic transition, a resonance in a photonic structure, or in a nonlinear optical process. Current applications of slow light include a series of attractive topics in optical information processing, such as optical data storage, optical memories, quantum information devices, and optical communication systems in which the use of slow light will allow all-optical processing with less wasted heat. To implement these applications, devices such as buffers, memories, interferometers and switches that utilize slow light need to be developed. Future challenges include the need for improved coupling of light into slow light modes, overcoming propagation losses, and mitigating the influence of large dispersion of the group velocity. The collection of papers in this special issue of Journal of Optics features a broad spectrum of articles that highlight actual developments in many of the material types and schemes described above. It represents therefore an excellent up to date snapshot of the current state of the field of slow light research. References [1] Lorentz H A 1880 Uber die Beziehung zwischen der Fortpflanzung des Lichtes und der Körperdichte Wiedemann Ann. 9 641–64 [2] McCall S L and Hahn E L 1967 Self-induced transparency by pulsed coherent light Phys. Rev. Lett. 18 908–11 [3] Vestergaard Hau L, Harris S E, Dutton Z and Behroozi C H 1999 Nature 397 594 [4] Philips D F, Fleischhauer A, Mair A, Walsworth R L and Lukin M D 2001 Storage of light in atomic vapor Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 783–6