Glass-ceramics for engineering optical properties and nonlinear optics for engineering glass ceramics

Abstract

The investigation of nonlinear optical (NLO) properties is closely linked to the discovery of Lasers (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) by Theodore Harold Maiman in 1960. The area of research has been devoted first naturally to non centrosymmetric crystals (LiNbO3, KDP, BBO, etc.). In 1961, Franken revealed for the first time on a quartz crystal the second harmonic generation [1037]. This discovery opened a new pathway for numerous innovative applications such as frequency conversion (second and third harmonic or sum and difference of frequency) starting from the interaction of monochromatic light sources and high fluence laser interaction with material. In the specific case of glasses, due to their isotropic nature, they do not provide second order nonlinearity such as a second harmonic signal, which forms the base of optical effect such as electro-optical effect (Pockels)