Applications of Nonlinear Fiber Optics

The development of new highly nonlinear fibers - referred to as microstructured fibers, holey fibers and photonic crystal fibers - is the next generation technology for all-optical signal processing and biomedical applications. This new edition has been thoroughly updated to incorporate these key technology developments.

The book presents sound coverage of the fundamentals of lightwave technology, along with material on pulse compression techniques and rare-earth-doped fiber amplifiers and lasers. The extensively revised chapters include information on fiber-optic communication systems and the ultrafast signal processing techniques that make use of nonlinear phenomena in optical fibers.

New material focuses on the applications of highly nonlinear fibers in areas ranging from wavelength laser tuning and nonlinear spectroscopy to biomedical imaging and frequency metrology. Technologies such as quantum cryptography, quantum computing, and quantum communications are also covered in a new chapter.

This book will be an ideal reference for: R&D engineers working on developing next generation optical components; scientists involved with research on fiber amplifiers and lasers; graduate students and researchers working in the fields of optical communications and quantum information.

• The only book on how to develop nonlinear fiber optic applications
• Two new chapters on the latest developments; Highly Nonlinear Fibers and Quantum Applications
• Coverage of biomedical applications

Govind P. Agrawal received his B.Sc. degree from the University of Lucknow in 1969 with honours. He was awarded a gold medal for achieving the top position in the university. Govind joined the Indian Institute of Technology at New Delhi in 1969 and received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in 1971 and 1974, respectively. After holding positions at the Ecole Polytechnique (France), the City University of New York, and the Laser company, Quantel, Orsay, France, Dr. Agrawal joined in 1981 the technical staff of the world-famous AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J., USA, where he worked on problems related to the development of semiconductor lasers and fiber-optic communication systems. He joined in 1989 the faculty of the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester where he is the James C. Wyant Professor of Optics. His research interests focus on quantum electronics, nonlinear optics, and optical communications. Dr. Agrawal is a Fellow of Optica (OSA), a Life Fellow of IEEE, and the recipient of IEEE Quantum Electronics Award, the Esther Hoffman Beller Medal, the OSA Max Born Award, and the EPS Quantum Electronics and Optics Medal. He is an author or co-author of more than 500 research papers, several book chapters and review articles, and ten books. He has also edited the books "Contemporary Nonlinear Optics" (Academic Press, 1992) and "Semiconductor Lasers: Past, Present and Future" (AIP Press, 1995). The books authored by Dr. Agrawal have influenced an entire generation of scientists. Several of them have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Greek, and Russian.