Abstract

Materials with large third-order optical nonlinear susceptibilities, hereafter denoted by NLOS, are key materials for optical devices for ultrafast communication, image processing, and optical computing. Recently, the development of nanofabrication technology has focused much interest on the NLOS of materials at nanoscale sizes, such as quantum dots¹ and molecules.² This paper discusses a design principle for obtaining a large third-order optical nonlinearity in materials at nanoscale sizes. The analysis is illustrated by calculations for organic materials, but the principles obtained may be expected to hold also for semiconductors at nanoscale sizes.

© 1994 Optical Society of America