Nonlinear optics. Phenomena, materials and devices (Q2901346)

This is a textbook on the general area of nonlinear optics. This area includes two related but distinct fields, namely, theoretical and experimental investigations of proper optical effects, and studies of nonlinear optical materials. The authors indicate that numerous earlier published monographs were dealing with the former field, while the actual progress in nonlinear optics was chiefly driven by the development of materials. The book aims to put more stress on the material aspects. The presentation also emphasizes the difference between two general approaches to the study of nonlinear-optical effects. The phenomenological approach postulates the use of effective material nonlinear susceptibilities of different orders (quadratic, cubic (alias the susceptibility accounting for the Kerr effect), etc.), which can be measured in experiments, and used in the framework of a semi-phenomenological theoretical description. Another approach starts from the microscopic consideration of interactions between electromagnetic fields and atoms, with the eventual objective to derive the nonlinear susceptibilities from the first principles. However, a consistent implementation of this approach in the condensed-matter setting, where a majority of nonlinear-optics effects occur, is quite difficult.NEWLINENEWLINE The book consists of three parts. The first and third part deal with the second- and third-order nonlinear phenomena, respectively. The second part presents a consideration and the derivation of the susceptibilities in terms of the microscopic approach. The book is written at a level which makes it accessible for graduate students (in fact, it originates from a course which was taught to students for a long period of time).