Nonlinear optics
Branch of physics
Nonlinear optics (NLO) is a branch of optics that studies the case when optical properties of matter depend on the intensity of the input light. Nonlinear phenomena become relevant only when the input light is very intense. Typically, in order to observe nonlinear phenomena, an intensity of the electromagnetic field of light larger than 108 V/m (and thus comparable to the atomic electric field of ~1011 V/m) is required. In this case, the polarization density P responds non-linearly to the electric field E of light. In order to obtain an electromagnetic field that is sufficiently intense, laser sources must be used. In nonlinear optics, the superposition principle no longer holds, and the polarization of the material is no longer linear in the electric field intensity. Instead, in the perturbative limit, it can be expressed by a polynomial sum of order n.
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This entry incorporates text from “Nonlinear optics” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.