Nonlinear optics is attracting attention because of its applications in telecommunications and its possibilities for optical computing. Optoelectronics has been singled out by many as being of considerable strategic importance. Optical fibre communications shows that optics is already a method of choice; nonlinear optics offers further improvements in efficiency and versatility.

Nonlinear optics is a topic of much current interest that exhibits a great diversity. Some publications on the subject are clearly physics, while others reveal an engineering bias; some appear to be accessible to the chemist, while others may appeal to biological understanding. Yet all purport to be non linear optics so where is the underlying unity? The answer is that the unity lies in the phenomena and the devices that exploit them, while the diversity lies in the materials used to express the phenomena. This book is an attempt to show this unity in diversity by bringing together...