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This book is based on the contributions to the 17th International
School of Materials Sci ence and Technology, entitled Nonlinear
Waves in Solid State Physics. This was held as a NATO Advanced
Study Institute at the Ettore Majorana Centre in Erice, Sicily
between the st th 1 and 15 July 1989, and attracted almost 100
participants from over 20 different countries. The book covers the
fundamental properties of nonlinear waves in solid state materials,
dealing with both theory and experiment. The aim is to emphasise
the methods underpinning the important new developments in this
area. The material is organised into subject areas that can broadly
be classified into the following groups: the theory of nonlinear
surface and guided waves in self-focusing magnetic and non-magnetic
materials; nonlinear effects at in terfaces; nonlinear
acoustoelectronic and surface acoustic waves; Lagrangian and
Hamiltonian formulations of nonlinear problems; nonlinear effects
in optical fibres; resonance phenomena; and nonlinear integrated
optics. The chapters have been grouped together according to these
classifications as closely as possible, but it should be borne in
mind that although there is much overlap of ideas, each chapter is
essentially independent of the others. We would like to acknowledge
the sponsorship of the NATO Scientific Affairs Division, the
European Physical Society, the National Science Foundation of the
USA, the European Research Office, the Italian Ministry of
Education, the Italian Ministry of Scientific and Technological
Research, the Sicilian Regional Government and the Ugo Bordoni
Foundation.
It is ironic that the ideas ofNewton, which described a beam of
light as a stream ofparticles made it difficult for him to explain
things like thin film interference. Yet these particles, called
'photons', have caused the adjective 'photonic' to gain common
usage, when referring to optical phenomena. The purist might argue
that only when we are confronted by the particle nature of light
should we use the word photonics. Equally, the argument goes on,
only when we are face-to face with an integrable system, i. e. one
that possesses an infinite number of conserved quantities, should
we say soliton rather than solitary wave. Scientists and engineers
are pragmatic, however, and they are happy to use the word
'soliton' to describe what appears to be an excitation that is
humped, multi humped, or localised long enough for some use to be
made of it. The fact that such 'solitons' may stick to each other
(fuse) upon collision is often something to celebrate for an
application, rather than just evidence that, after all, these are
not really solitons, in the classic sense. 'Soliton', therefore, is
a widely used term with the qualification that we are constantly
looking out for deviant behaviour that draws our attention to its
solitary wave character. In the same spirit, 'photonics' is a
useful generic cover-all noun, even when 'electromagnetic theory'
or 'optics' would suffice."
It is ironic that the ideas ofNewton, which described a beam of
light as a stream ofparticles made it difficult for him to explain
things like thin film interference. Yet these particles, called
'photons', have caused the adjective 'photonic' to gain common
usage, when referring to optical phenomena. The purist might argue
that only when we are confronted by the particle nature of light
should we use the word photonics. Equally, the argument goes on,
only when we are face-to face with an integrable system, i. e. one
that possesses an infinite number of conserved quantities, should
we say soliton rather than solitary wave. Scientists and engineers
are pragmatic, however, and they are happy to use the word
'soliton' to describe what appears to be an excitation that is
humped, multi humped, or localised long enough for some use to be
made of it. The fact that such 'solitons' may stick to each other
(fuse) upon collision is often something to celebrate for an
application, rather than just evidence that, after all, these are
not really solitons, in the classic sense. 'Soliton', therefore, is
a widely used term with the qualification that we are constantly
looking out for deviant behaviour that draws our attention to its
solitary wave character. In the same spirit, 'photonics' is a
useful generic cover-all noun, even when 'electromagnetic theory'
or 'optics' would suffice."
Although it took some time to establish the word, photonics is both
widely accepted and used throughout the world and a major area of
activity concerns nonlinear materials. In these the nonlinearity
mainly arises from second-order or third-order nonlinear optical
processes. A restriction is that second-order processes only occur
in media that do not possess a centre of symmetry. Optical fibres,
on the other hand, being made of silica glass, created by fusing
SiO molecules, are made of material with a centre of z symmetry, so
the bulk of all processes are governed by third-order nonlinearity.
Indeed, optical fibre nonlinearities have been extensively studied
for the last thirty years and can be truly hailed as a success
story of nonlinear optics. In fact, the fabrication ofsuch fibres,
and the exploitation oftheir nonlinearity, is in an advanced stage
- not least being their capacity to sustain envelope solitons. What
then ofsecond-order nonlinearity? This is also well-known for its
connection to second-harmonic generation. It is an immediate
concern, however, to understand how waves can mix and conserve both
energy and momentum ofthe photons involved. The problem is that the
wave vectors cannot be made to match without a great deal of
effort, or at least some clever arrangement has to be made - a
special geometry, or crystal arrangement. The whole business is
called phase matching and an inspection ofthe state-of-the-art
today, reveals the subject to be in an advanced state."
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