Nonlinear effects in optical fibers

The basic differential equations necessary to represent nonlinear propagation of short and ultrashort optical pulses in dielectric waveguides are derived. After introducing fundamental and higher-order soliton solutions of the nonlinear Schroedinger equations, the possibilities of realizing soliton-based communication systems are discussed. Higher-order nonlinear effects associated with selj-Raman gain and optical amplification in connection with the use of active fibers are also described.     

Nonlinear optical effects in artificial materials

We consider some nonlinear phenomena in metamaterials with negative refractive index properties. Our consideration includes a survey of previously known results as well as identification of the phenomena that are important for applications of this new field. We focus on optical behavior of thin films as well as multi-wave interactions.     

Nonlinear optical characteristics of self-assembled films of ZnO

In the present work, we have investigated the nonlinear optical properties of self-assembled films formed from ZnO colloidal spheres by z-scan technique. The sign of the nonlinear component of refractive index of the material remains the same; however, a switching from reverse saturable absorption to saturable absorption has been observed as the material changes from colloid to self-assembled film. These different nonlinear characteristics can be mainly attributed to ZnO defect states and electronic effects when the colloidal solution is transformed into self-assembled monolayers. We investigated the intensity, wavelength and size dependence of saturable and reverse saturable absorption of ZnO self-assembled films and colloids. Values of the imaginary part of third-order susceptibility are calculated for particles of size in the range 20–300 nm at different intensity levels ranging from 40 to 325 MW/cm² within the wavelength range of 450–650 nm. PACS 81.16.Dn; 42.65.-k; 42.65.An; 42.70.-a; 42.70.Nq; 78.20.Ci     

Nonlinear optical polarization effects in quantum-dot materials

The amplitude and dispersion of the cubic susceptibility-tensor components χ _ijkl ⁽³⁾ (?Ω; Ω, ω, ?ω) and of their combinations responsible for the Kerr and Faraday optical effects, as well as for the self-rotation of the polarization ellipse, are calculated within a simple model of a material with semiconducting spherical quantum dots without the inclusion of the excitonic effects and of processes of higher orders in field. It is shown that the susceptibilities increase smoothly in amplitude below the two-photon absorption threshold while remaining negative. Above the threshold, the susceptibilities exhibit sharp maxima associated with two-photon resonances. The regions with positive and negative real parts of the χ⁽³⁾ tensor components alternate. The magnitude of the induced linear or circular birefringence obtained suggest the possibility of using the nonlinear optical polarization effects in these materials to control light with short, high-intensity light pulses.     

Nonlinear optical effects for plasma diagnostics

Experimental investigations show that the 1/f noise intensityC and the contact resistanceR can be used to analyse contacts. The simply prepared contacts are fritted by discharging a capacitor, resulting in a multi-spot contact. A model relatesC andR to a number of contact spotsk with radiusa. More impulse-frittings at increasing energies decreaseC andR, thus enhancing the values ofk anda. From experimentalC vsR plots two regions are determined for GaAs: A fritting (a=constant) and A+B fritting (a∝k). Calculated values ofk are in good agreement with the number of peaks or pits formed by etching the semiconductor surface. From experimentalC vsW orR vsW curves, withW the cumulative impulse-fritting energy, the conclusion can be made thatka ³ is proportional toW.     

盐LB单分子层膜的非线性光学性质

合成了一种能够形成单分子层膜,又具有很大分子二阶非线性极化率的有机分子材料——菧盐。对菧盐单分子层膜进行了光学二次谐波信号的测量,得到其分子二阶非线性极化率=1.2×10~(-27)esu。但它很难构成稳定的多层膜结构。本文首次报道菧盐/花生酸混合Langmuir-Blodgett(简计L-B)膜的制备及其非线性光学性能研究,混合膜就一般分子材料不能既具有较大的二阶非线性极化率,又能形成稳定的多层膜结构这一难题的可行性进行了探索。实验证明,混合膜是制备高倍频系数的稳定多层膜的可行措施之一。     

Nonlinear optical properties of Au/PVP composite thin films

Colloidal Au and poly（vinylpyrrolidone） （PVP） composite thin films are fabricated by spin-coating method. Linear optical absorption measurements of the Au/PVP composite films indicate an absorption peak around 530 nm due to the surface plasmon resonance of gold nanoparticles. Nonlinear optical properties are studied using standard Z-scan technique, and experimental results show large optical nonlinearities of the Au/PVP composite films. A large value of χ^（3）/α up to 0.56× 10-^10esu·cm is obtained, which is comparable to the best values reported in metal/oxlde composite films.     

Nonlinear optical properties of thin films at a low light intensity

Nonlinearity of optical parameters of semiconductor and dielectric films for a 0.63-nm-wavelength light with intensity lower than 100 mW/cm² is discovered and studied.     

Nonlinear optical and magneto-optical effects in non-spherical magnetic granular composite

The magnetization-induced nonlinear optical and nonlinear magneto-optical properties in a magnetic metal-insulator composite are studied based on a tensor effective medium approximation with shape factor and Taylcr-expansion method. There is a weakly nonlinear relation between electric displacement D and elcctric field E in the composite. The results of our studies on the effective dielectric tensor and the nonlinear susceptibility tensor in a magnetic nanocomposite are surveyed. It is shown that such a metal-insulator composite exhibits the enhancements of optical and magneto-optical nonlinearity. The frequencies at which the enhancements occur, and the amplitude of the enhancement factors depend on the concentration and shape of the magnetic grains.     

Nonlinear optical effects in media with a positive-negative refractive index

The nonlinear phenomena in media whose linear refractive index changes its magnitude and sign with a change in the wave carrier frequency or spatial coordinate, are considered. The results of theoretical investigations of the generation of harmonics in a homogeneous medium, optical bistability, and propagation of stationary solitary waves in a two-channel waveguide are discussed.     

Nonlinear optical effects in antiferromagnetic KniF3

Frequency broadening and self-focusing of optical pulses are observed in antiferromagnetic KNiF₃ under intense pico- second laser excitation. Below the Néel temperature considerable enhancement of the frequency broadened intensity is observed which is attributed to the spin dependent part of the third order susceptibility.     

Nonlinear optical effects in an inhomogeneous Bose—Einstein condensate

A variety of nonlinear optical effects arising upon the interaction of a signal beam with a strong pump beam at the second harmonic frequency in a nonlinear Bose-Einstein condensate is studied. Along with the ratio of signal and pump beam widths, the influence of the mutual geometry of the trap and the pump beam profile on the studied processes is investigated.     

Nonlinear optical response of Au and Ag nanoparticles doped polyvinylpyrrolidone thin films

Colloidal Au and colloidal Ag were prepared by chemical reaction method and the nonlinear optical properties of Au and Ag nanoparticles doped polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) composite films were investigated using Z-scan technique with 38 ps pulses at 532 nm. Open aperture Z-scan measurements indicated that both the Au/PVP and Ag/PVP composite films exhibited reverse saturable absorption. Nonlinear absorption coefficients and third-order nonlinear refractive indices were determined. The mechanisms accounting for the process of nonlinear refractions were analyzed and the figures of merit W and T of the Au/PVP and Ag/PVP composite films were evaluated.     

Nonlinear planar optical waveguide sensors comprising metamaterial guiding films at terahertz frequencies

In this paper, we propose a metamaterial film bounded by a nonlinear cover and a dielectric substrate as a THz wave sensor. The dispersion characteristics and magnetic field profiles have been derived, computed and analyzed. Confinement of the light waves was found to increase with both nonlinearity and frequency. We believe our results can be used to design novel tunable future sensors.     

Temperature effects on optical properties of InN thin films

Transmission measurements have been carried out on InN thin films grown by radio frequency magnetron sputtering on a sapphire (0001) substrate at 10–300 K. With the aid of a novel procedure developed for analyzing the transmission spectra, the effect of temperature on optical properties, such as the absorption coefficient, band-gap, Urbach bandtail characteristics, refractive index and extinction coefficient, of InN thin films has been determined. The wavelength and temperature dependence of the absorption coefficient in both the Urbach and intrinsic absorption regions has been described by a series of empirical formulae. The temperature dependence of the refractive index dispersion below the band-gap is also found to follow a Sellmeier equation. These formulae are very useful for the characterization and device design of InN films. The free-electron concentration in the InN thin film determined here is also found to be in good agreement with that obtained from infrared reflection measurements. PACS 78.66.Fd; 78.40.Fy; 78.20.Bh; 78.20.Ci     

Nonlinear optical properties of erbium doped zinc oxide (EZO) thin films

Undoped and Erbium (Er) doped zinc oxide (EZO) thin films were deposited on glass substrate by sol–gel method using spin coating technique with different doping concentration. EZO films were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), UV–VIS-NIR transmission and single beam z scan method under illumination of frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser. The deposited films were found to be well crystallized with hexagonal wurtzite structure having a preferential growth orientation along the ZnO (002) plane. A blue-shift was observed in the band gap of EZO films with increasing Er concentration. All the films exhibited a negative value of nonlinear refractive index (n₂) at 532 nm which is attributed to the two photon absorption and weak free carrier absorption. Third order nonlinear optical susceptibility, χ⁽³⁾ values of EZO films were observed in the remarkable range of 10^? 6 esu. EZO (0.4 at.%) sample was found to be the best optical limiter with limiting threshold of 1.95 KJ/cm².     

Nonlinear polarisation effects in optical microcoil resonators with fibre twist and birefringence

We study the nonlinear response of optical microcoil resonators (OMRs) based on twisted birefringent microfibres by incorporating Kerr nonlinearity into the underlying coupled mode equations. The resulting hysteresis characteristics were found to be highly polarisation dependent, with both the switching powers and contrast levels strongly influenced by the twist-induced cross-polarisation coupling. In addition, the existence of multiple bistability in OMRs is explored when the two orthogonal polarisations' resonances are spectrally close enough to influence the propagation of a monochromatic pump. Both the bistability and nonlinear switching may potentially be utilised for implementing polarisation-sensitive devices, especially for signal processing purposes, and benefit from the low threshold powers needed to observe nonlinear effects in OMRs.     

Nonlinear optical properties in SrTiO3 thin films by pulsed laser deposition

Well-crystallized 250 nm-thick SrTiO₃ thin films on fused-quartz substrate were prepared by pulsed laser deposition. The band-gap of SrTiO₃ thin film by transmittance spectra is equal to 3.50 eV, larger than 3.22 eV for the bulk crystal. The nonlinear optical properties of the films were examined with picosecond pulses at 1.064 μm excitation. A large two-photon absorption (TPA) with absorption coefficient of 87.7 cm/GW was obtained, larger than 51.7 cm/GW for BaTiO₃ thin films. The nonlinear refractive index n₂ is equal to 5.7×10⁻¹⁰ esu with a negative sign, larger than 0.267×10⁻¹¹ esu for bulk SrTiO₃. The large TPA is attributed to intermediate energy levels introduced by the grain boundaries, and the optical limiting behaviors stemming from both TPA and negative nonlinear refraction were also discussed.