AEP 4400: Quantum and Nonlinear Optics, Spring 2018

Instructor: Jeff Moses

moses@cornell.edu
223 Clark Hall
Lectures: TR 2:55-4:10pm, Physical Sciences Building 120
Office Hours: (to be arranged)
Course webpage: blackboard.cornell.edu
Text: Nonlinear Optics, Boyd
Reference Texts (Online if specified, otherwise hard copy on course reserve at the Mathematics Library):
Nonlinear Optics by N. Bloembergen
The principles of nonlinear optics by Y. Shen
Optical Resonance and Two-Level Atoms by L. Allen and J. H. Eberly
Elements of Nonlinear Optics by P. N. Butcher and D. Cotter
Nonlinear Fiber Optics by G. P. Agrawal (Online)
Quantum Theory of Light by R. Loudon (Online)
Optical Electronics by A. Yariv
Prerequisites: AEP 3560, AEP 3620, (or equivalents).
Exams: One in-class pre-lim, Tues. March 27, and a final exam.
Problem sets: Handed out weekly and due one week later. Sensible and appropriate collaboration on
homework is recommended.
Note the Cornell Code of Academic Integrity: “A Cornell student's submission of work for academic
credit indicates that the work is the student's own.”
Grading: Approximate weighting: Problem Sets 35%; Prelim 25%; Final Exam 40%.
Course introduction:
This course is an introduction to the interaction of intense light with matter. The field of nonlinear optics
began immediately following the invention of the laser, in the early 1960s. Since then, the laser has
redefined science and industry, with applications from astrophysics to medicine, telecommunications,
machining and manufacturing, and nanofabrication (to name just a few), and has become an essential tool
for fundamental studies of nature. Nonlinear optics and phenomena related to coherent laser-atom
interactions have likewise become essential to these fields, from the description of fundamental and
applied phenomena – sometimes harmful, sometimes beneficial – to the invention of new technologies.
This one semester course aims foremost to provide you with a rigorous basis for the fundamentals of
nonlinear optics and coherent laser-matter interactions with which you may be able to solve contemporary
problems in science and engineering related to the interaction of intense light with matter.
Other goals of the course:
• To present a broad overview of nonlinear-optical phenomena
• Development of tools and recipes for doing real calculations
• Introduction to some technologically relevant subjects such as nonlinear fiber optics
• Introduction to some subjects that are in current research
• Some exposure to nonlinear-optical experiments
• To gain some insight into general features of nonlinear waves and systems

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Tentative Syllabus (depending on time and interest):

Origin of optical nonlinearities

- anharmonicity in the (classical) Lorentz model of the atom
- nonlinear susceptibilities; perturbative vs. non-perturbative and relation to atomic field

Light propagation in dielectric media

- driven-wave equation
- plane-wave and paraxial limits, Gaussian beams
- guided waves and optical fibers

Nonlinear parametric processes and frequency conversion

- harmonic generation, sum- and difference-frequency generation
- phase matching
- optical parametric amplifiers and oscillators

Processes that result from an intensity-dependent refractive index

- self-phase modulation
- self-focusing and filamentation
- phase conjugation
- optical bistability and optical switching

Nonlinear optics with ultrashort light pulses

- nonlinear pulse propagation
- optical solitons
- telecom nonlinear optics
- non-perturbative nonlinear optics and high harmonic generation

Optical resonance and two-level atoms

- resonant nonlinear optics; transition dipoles
- density matrix and optical Bloch equations; Rabi oscillations and adiabatic following
- mechanisms of line broadening (radiative, collisional, Doppler)
- atom cooling and trapping
- applications of atomic coherence: lasing without inversion, electromagnetically-induced
transparency, slow and stopped light

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