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Optical nonlinear effects in semiconductors

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Principles and Applications of Nonlinear Optical Materials

Abstract

It is hard to exaggerate the technological importance of semiconductors; as a group of materials they have found extensive application in electronics, where the key feature is the ability to alter radically their electronic properties by employing small amounts of dopants. Their optical properties have also attracted considerable interest, and semiconductors have been shown to be very useful in opto-electronics, where they are widely employed in the detection and generation of light. As a consequence their linear optical properties have been extensively studied, and since the invention of the laser in 1960 their nonlinear optical properties have also attracted a great deal of interest. In particular, the large magnitude of the nonlinear optical properties at photon energies close to the band-gap energy has generated considerable attention; with the demonstration of optical bistability, all-optical switching and optical computing are causing excitement.

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Authors
  1. C. N. Ironside
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, UMIST, Manchester, UK

    R. W. Munn

  2. Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, University of Glasgow, UK

    C. N. Ironside

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© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Ironside, C.N. (1993). Optical nonlinear effects in semiconductors. In: Munn, R.W., Ironside, C.N. (eds) Principles and Applications of Nonlinear Optical Materials. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2158-3_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2158-3_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-4955-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-2158-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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