The Department of Physics and Astronomy invites all to a colloquium featuring Dr. Rick Lytel, Adjunct Professor of Physics, Washington State University. Dr. Lytel will present his talk, “Fundamental Limits of Nonlinear Optics”, Tuesday, September 27, at 4:10 p.m. in Webster 17.
Meet for refreshments before the lecture at 3:45 – 4:10 p.m. in the foyer on floor G above the lecture hall.
Abstract: Lasers were invented over fifty years ago and are in widespread use for fiber-optic communications, precision surgery, wide-area networks, entertainment devices, range-finding and targeting, and numerous other applications. Nonlinear optics—the use of lasers with materials for harmonic generation, high-speed modulation, optical switching, phase conjugation, and measurement—is only a year or so younger but the response of materials is too small for practical use. In 2000, the fundamental limits of nonlinear optical phenomena were discovered, revealing that nearly all materials up to that time fell a factor of 30 below the limits and explaining why nonlinear optics had yet to achieve its full potential. This talk describes the discovery and interpretation of the limits, their implication for design of better molecules, and new synthesis and design methods leading to molecules that approach the limits for the first time. Recent discoveries bode well for nonlinear optics to obtain the same ubiquity as lasers in the commercial world.
