SPIE Photonics West 2012

21-26 January 2012

The Moscone Center,
San Francisco,
California,
USA

Our booth # 1107
(South Hall)

Applications

Non-linear crystals are so called because their response to an electro-magnetic signal (light), under certain conditions, is not only proportional to its intensity. In practice, these materials exhibit a non-linear behavior under high intensities of light, which restrict their use to the field of laser applications.

Thus, non-linear crystals are being used to change the wavelength of a laser. This can be achieved either by doubling its frequency or mixing it with an other laser radiation (SHG and SFM), or allowing a selected wavelength to resonate in a crystal (OPO) under laser exposure.

In several cases, non-linear materials also exhibit interesting electro-optical properties, which allow them to change the state of a polarized radiation when an electrical field is applied to them.