Abstract

Consider a nonlinear optical layer with small thickness L, i.e. with L≪λ/θ², where θ is the angle between interacting waves. If the nonlinearity is of the phase type, the action of the layer on the transmitted beam is the phase modulation only: (1) where φ(x,y) is connected with the nonlinear action of the intensity distribution of the field, φ = s|E|². However, the phase modulation produces no extra intensity modulation, and therefore there is no feedback in a thin layer even for a large (|φ| ≫ 1) nonlinearity. This is a strong drawback for such important media as semiconductor quantum wells, for which L<1μm, or liquid crystal cells.

© 1992 Optical Society of America