Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Properties of common semiconductors
- 1 Quantum mechanics of the electron
- 2 Quantum mechanics of the photon
- 3 Quantum mechanics of electron–photon interaction
- 4 Laser oscillations
- 5 Semiconductor band structure
- 6 Electronic properties of semiconductors
- 7 Optical properties of semiconductors
- 8 Semiconductor heterostructures and quantum wells
- 9 Waveguides
- 10 Elements of device physics
- 11 Semiconductor photodetectors
- 12 Optical frequency conversion
- 13 Light emitting diodes and laser diodes
- Index
12 - Optical frequency conversion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Properties of common semiconductors
- 1 Quantum mechanics of the electron
- 2 Quantum mechanics of the photon
- 3 Quantum mechanics of electron–photon interaction
- 4 Laser oscillations
- 5 Semiconductor band structure
- 6 Electronic properties of semiconductors
- 7 Optical properties of semiconductors
- 8 Semiconductor heterostructures and quantum wells
- 9 Waveguides
- 10 Elements of device physics
- 11 Semiconductor photodetectors
- 12 Optical frequency conversion
- 13 Light emitting diodes and laser diodes
- Index
Summary
Introduction
One of the most impressive accomplishments of wave optics is its success in providing a coherent and succinct description of the interactions between electromagnetic waves and matter (gases, solids, etc.). Maxwell's equations, which describe the propagation of light, and the Laplace–Lorentz equations, which describe the source terms of light, allow one to take into account the phenomena of refraction, diffusion, and diffraction of light by dense media. It is amazing – to say the least – that such a theory can account for the complex interactions of an electromagnetic wave with an immense ensemble of atoms (each approximated in terms of individual harmonic oscillators), by means of a simple optical index nop. Such an achievement is reminiscent and, indeed, on par with the level of concision achieved by the concept of effective mass in representing the interaction of a conduction electron with a crystalline lattice.
In the description of all these effects, an electromagnetic wave with (angular) frequency ω forces free carriers into oscillatory motion at the same frequency, leading to radiative re-emission at this same frequency. This behaviour is a natural by-product of the linear equations we have employed up until now. In this chapter, we will see that non-linear media (i.e. materials whose response to external excitations contains non-linear terms), may by used to perform frequency conversion as evidenced, for example, by second harmonic light generation or optical parametric oscillations.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Optoelectronics , pp. 538 - 564Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002