Nonlinear Optics

Explores the Fundamental Aspects of Nonlinear Optics

As nonlinear optics further develops as a field of research in electromagnetic wave propagation, its state-of-the-art technologies will continue to strongly impact real-world applications in a variety of fields useful to the practicing scientist and engineer. From basic principles to examples of applications, Nonlinear Optics: Principles and Applications effectively bridges physics and mathematics with relevant applied material for real-world use. The book progresses naturally from fundamental aspects to illustrative examples, and presents a strong theoretical foundation that equips the reader with enough knowledge to recognize, understand, and evaluate nonlinear optical phenomena.

Structured so that the first five chapters are dedicated to the description of the fundamental formalism of nonlinear optics, and the last five chapters are devoted to a description of practical devices based on nonlinear phenomena, it describes nonlinear wave propagation in bulk and in waveguiding structures, and includes specific examples of applied nonlinear wave propagation through crystals, optical waveguides, and optical fibers. Providing a theoretical description of nonlinear interaction between light and matter, this text focuses on the physical understanding of nonlinear optics, and explores optical material response functions in the time and frequency domain.

This pivotal work contains ten chapters and the main applications include:

• Optical signal processing: parametric amplification, modulators
• Transmission of optical signals: optical solitons, cross-phase modulation, four-wave mixing, phase conjugation, Raman scattering
• Sensing: temperature sensors, spectroscopy, and imaging
• Lasers: pulse compression and generation of super continuum

Nonlinear Optics: Principles and Applications

describes the fundamental aspects of nonlinear optics and serves as a reference for nonlinear optics professionals as well as graduate students specializing in nonlinear optics.

Karsten Rottwitt received his PhD in 1993 from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) within propagation of solitons through optical fiber amplifiers. His Post doc was in collaboration with the femtosecond optics group, Imperial College London. From 1995 to 2000 Rottwitt continued at Bell Labs, AT&T and Lucent Technologies, New Jersey, USA. His research was directed toward Raman scattering in optical fibers. In 2000 Rottwitt moved back to Denmark where he is now at the department for photonics engineering, DTU. His research is concentrated on optical fiber nonlinearities including interactions among higher order modes, with applications within bio-photonics, sensing and communication.

Peter Tidemand-Lichtenberg

has been working with novel light sources and detection systems for 20 years. He completed his PhD in 1996 from the Technical University of Denmark. After receiving his PhD, he spent six years in small start-up companies developing light sources for various industrial applications. In 2002 he returned to DTU to develop compact coherent light sources in the UV and visible spectral region. He has mainly focused on extending the spectral coverage toward the mid-IR region, and developing efficient light sources and low noise detection systems in the 2-12 µm range based on frequency mixing for the past five years.