Dissertation
USING SCALE INVARIANCE AND THE FUNDAMENTAL LIMITS TO EXPLORE AND CHARACTERIZE NOVEL ENHANCEMENTS OF OPTICAL PHENOMENA
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2020
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/111626
Abstract
Nonlinear optical phenomena promise profound impacts on science and technol
ogy. However, materials with much larger nonlinear optical response are required
before these impacts can be fully realized. The fundamental quantum limits of the
nonlinear hyperpolarizabilities provide a scale invariant means of characterizing the
nonlinear response of a material and thus act as a guidepost in the search for ultra
large nonlinear hyperpolarizabilities.
In this dissertation we first review select nonlinear phenomena, the origins of non
linear optical response, and the theory of the fundamental limits, and introduce the
reader to the scale invariant characterization of a material’s nonlinear response using
the fundamental limits. We then proceed to extend the scale invariant characteriza
tion to a selection of novel systems and phenomena and pursue new means of tuning
the nonlinear optical response.
We start by analyzing the effects of electronic excitation and degeneracy on the
nonlinear optical response and how they can be used to obtain extremely large po
larizabilities. We then explore the newly discovered topology of 1D superlattices and
demonstrate how it can be leveraged to control the nonlinear optical response of
hybrid quantum systems with great freedom. We illustrate this control with select
key examples, including higher harmonic generation, the optical Kerr effect, and sat
urable absorption. We then conclude with possible applications of this novel degree
of freedom to all optical switching within the context of ‘quantum chords’. Finally,
we extend the analysis of nonlinear optics to radiative heat transfer to show that the
heat transfer between amorphous dielectrics depends entirely on the optical response
of the constituent molecules. We conclude that the molecular-optical response can
be used to greatly enhance radiative heat transfer between systems and discuss how
these enhancements might be realized in hybrid quantum systems.
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Details
- Title
- USING SCALE INVARIANCE AND THE FUNDAMENTAL LIMITS TO EXPLORE AND CHARACTERIZE NOVEL ENHANCEMENTS OF OPTICAL PHENOMENA
- Creators
- Ethan L Crowell
- Contributors
- Mark G Kuzyk (Advisor)Peter Engels (Committee Member)Fred Gittes (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Physics and Astronomy
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 165
- Identifiers
- 99900581811001842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation