Spotlight summary: The concept of quasi-phase-matching (QPM) was introduced at the very beginning of the era of lasers and nonlinear optics as a generic method to increase the efficiency of second order nonlinear interactions. However, it was not until the early 90’s, with the introduction of periodically poled ferroelectrics obtained by electric field poling that the technique began to blossom as an engineering tool to tailor nonlinear interactions. In the QPM approach an artificial wave vector (i.e, artificial modulation of the nonlinear coefficient in the material) is introduced into the phase matching condition in order to compensate for the phase mismatch between the interacting waves induced by material dispersion.
Last modified Wed, 3 Apr, 2013 at 9:23