COURSE TITLE: ECE 406 Nonlinear Optics

CATALOG DESCRIPTION: Nonlinear optical susceptibilities; wave propagation and coupling in nonlinear media; harmonic, sum, and difference frequency generation; parametric amplification and oscillation; phase-conjugation via four-wave mixing; self-phase modulation and solitons.

REQUIRED TEXT: R. W. Boyd, Nonlinear Optics, Academic Press, Latest Edition. In addition, course notes will be distributed.

REFERENCE TEXTS:

G. P. Agrawal, Nonlinear Fiber Optics, Academic Press, 1995

Y. R. Shen, Principals of Nonlinear Optics, John Wiley and Sons, 1984

COURSE DIRECTOR: Mary R. Phillips

COURSE GOALS: To give students a working knowledge of the fundamental concepts and modern applications of nonlinear optics.

PREREQUISITES BY COURSES: ECE 382 and ECE 404 (or equivalent), or permission of instructor.

PREREQUISITES BY TOPIC:

1. Electric field, power, and intensity of EM fields in linear materials.

2. Working knowledge of quantum mechanics; in particular, time dependent perturbation theory.

DETAILED COURSE TOPICS:

Wave equation with nonlinear polarization

Microscopic origin of nonlinear susceptibility

Properties of susceptibility tensor

c⁽²⁾ phenomena:

electro-optic effect

second-harmonic generation

sum/difference frequency generation

parametric amplification

c⁽³⁾ phenomena:

self-phase modulation, nonlinear refractive index

cross-phase modulation

four-wave mixing

nonlinear birefringence

solitons

Nonlinear Scattering

Raman scattering

Brillouin scattering

COMPUTER USAGE: Graphical display of the solutions of the pertinent nonlinear equations.

BASIS for GRADE: Tentative breakdown is as follows:Midterm test 30%, term paper and presentation 30%, and final exam 40%. Homework is a factor in borderline decisions.