Nonlinear Optics

Nonlinear optics (NLO) is the branch of optics that describes the behavior of light in nonlinear media, that is, media in which the dielectric polarization P responds nonlinearly to the electric field E of the light. This nonlinearity is typically only observed at very high light intensities (values of the electric field comparable to interatomic electric fields, typically 108 V/m) such as those provided by pulsed lasers. Above the Schwinger limit, the vacuum itself is expected to become nonlinear. In nonlinear optics, the superposition principle no longer holds.

Nonlinear optics remained unexplored until the discovery of Second harmonic generation shortly after demonstration of the first laser. (Peter Franken et al. at University of Michigan in 1961)