Introduction

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed a surge of research activity in the field of nonlinear optics. This has occurred for several reasons. Developments in material and laser technology have triggered the discovery of a wealth of new nonlinear optical effects in a wide range of materials. New phenomena such as optical bistability and other all-optical switching phenomena, phase conjugation and real time holography, solitons, etc., provide mechanisms for exploiting these new nonlinear optical interactions. Simultaneously, the increasing use of laser light in storage, display, communications and computing has given the incentive for utilizing nonlinear optical phenomena in information processing to extend systems capabilities.