Quasi-phasematching

The use of microstructured crystals in quasi-phasematched (QPM) nonlinear interactions has enabled operation of nonlinear devices in regimes inaccessible to conventional birefringently phasematched media. This review addresses basic aspects of the theory of QPM interactions, microstructured ferroelectrics and semiconductors for QPM, devices based on QPM media, and a series of techniques based on engineering of QPM gratings to tailor spatial and spectral response of QPM interactions. Because it is not possible in a brief review to do justice to the large body of results that have been obtained with QPM media over the past twenty years, the emphasis in this review will be on aspects of QPM interactions beyond their use simply as highly nonlinear alternatives to conventional birefringent media. To cite this article: D.S. Hum, M.M. Fejer, C. R. Physique 8 (2007).