White Paper - Walkoff in Nonlinear Optics
GAMDAN OPTICS, INC. WHITE PAPER RELEASE
WALKOFF IN NONLINEAR OPTICS
Scientists and engineers working with nonlinear crystals must understand and consider dispersion and walkoff when calculating phase matching conditions, conversion efficiencies, and beam propagation dynamics in nonlinear optical processes such as second-harmonic generation (SHG), sum-frequency generation (SFG), and parametric down-conversion (PDC).
Walkoff occurs due to birefringence in anisotropic crystals, where the direction of energy flow (Poynting vector) is not collinear with the wave vector for certain polarizations. Understanding and accurately modeling dispersion and walk off are essential for optimizing nonlinear optical systems and ensuring high-performance results in applications such as laser frequency doubling, optical parametric amplification, and quantum optics.
In this white paper, we discuss in depth the polarization state of light, when walk off matters, and walk off situations. This white paper is a compilation of articles by Dr. Will Grossman, Technical Consultant for GAMDAN Optics that are available on the GAMDAN Optics, Inc. Nonlinear Crystal Blog. (Subscribe here)
Dr. Grossman is an expert on the topic of Laser Damage, Laser Reliability, and walk off compensation and is high sought out to teach on these topics by organizations such as SPIE. Dr. Grossman is an asset to our technical team as he works closely with our Research and Development projects and custom system consultations.
