Nonlinear Optics, 3rd Edition

Chapter 1 The Nonlinear Optical Susceptibility

1.1. Introduction to Nonlinear Optics

Nonlinear optics is the study of phenomena that occur as a consequence of the modification of the optical properties of a material system by the presence of light. Typically, only laser light is sufficiently intense to modify the optical properties of a material system. The beginning of the field of nonlinear optics is often taken to be the discovery of second-harmonic generation by Franken et al. (1961), shortly after the demonstration of the first working laser by Maiman in 1960.^* Nonlinear optical phenomena are “nonlinear” in the sense that they occur when the response of a material system to an applied optical field depends in a nonlinear manner on the strength ...