Abstract

The second-order cascade effect is a very promising means of generating large intensity-dependent self-induced phase changes in an optical field propagating in a waveguide [1,2,3]. In practice this phenomenon must be implemented in a waveguide environment with quasi-phase-matching (QPM), but most theoretical analysis has used 1-dimensional (plane-wave) approximations along with conventional phase-matching. While 1-dimensional models do exhibit the dominant physics, at least under CW excitation conditions, they are incapable of representing a variety of effects which should be considered in actually designing an optimal device, such as the effects of higher-order guided modes and radiation modes which might be excited at the second-harmonic, radiation due to scattering from the QPM grating, and many others.

© 1995 Optical Society of America