Abstract

Cubic semiconductors are ideal materials for nonlinear optics because i) their second order optical nonlinear (SOON) coefficient is huge (typically 100 pm/V in GaAs), ii) their damage threshold is extremely high (few GW/cm²) and iii) a great deal of technological knowledge has been gained during the past decades due to their large industrial importance. However these semiconductors have never reached a mature status in nonlinear optics, the main reason being that those materials are naturally not biréfringent and consequently cannot be phase matched. This situation has changed drastically in the last few years.

© 1996 IEEE