Introduction

Malin Premaratne; Govind P. Agrawal

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511973635.002

1 - Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011

Malin Premaratne and

Govind P. Agrawal

Show author details

Malin Premaratne: Affiliation:
Monash University, Victoria
Govind P. Agrawal: Affiliation:
University of Rochester, New York

Book contents

Get access

Summary

In this introductory chapter we focus on the interaction of optical fields with matter because it forms the basis of signal amplification in all optical amplifiers. According to our present understanding, optical fields are made of photons with properties precisely described by the laws of quantum field theory [1]. One consequence of this wave–particle duality is that optical fields can be described, in certain cases, as electromagnetic waves using Maxwell's equations and, in other cases, as a stream of massless particles (photons) such that each photon contains an energy hν, where h is the Planck constant and ν, is the frequency of the optical field. In the case of monochromatic light, it is easy to relate the number of photons contained in an electromagnetic field to its associated energy density. However, this becomes difficult for optical fields that have broad spectral features, unless full statistical features of the signal are known [2]. Fortunately, in most cases that we deal with, such a detailed knowledge of photon statistics is not necessary or even required [3, 4]. Both the linear and the nonlinear optical studies carried out during the last century have shown us convincingly that a theoretical understanding of experimental observations can be gained just by using wave features of the optical fields if they are intense enough to contain more than a few photons [5]. It is this semiclassical approach that we adopt in this book. In cases where such a description is not adequate, one could supplement the wave picture with a quantum description.

Type: Chapter
Information: Light Propagation in Gain Media
Optical Amplifiers
, pp. 1 - 27

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511973635.002 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

[1] J. M., Jauch and F., Rohrlich, The Theory of Photons and Electrons, 2nd ed. Springer, 1976.Google Scholar

[2] L., Mandel and E., Wolf, Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics. Cambridge University Press, 1995.Google Scholar

[3] E., Desurvire, Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers: Principles and Applications. Wiley, 1994.Google Scholar

[4] G. P., Agrawal, Nonlinear Fiber Optics, 4th ed. Academic Press, 2007.Google Scholar

[5] B. E. A., Saleh and M. C., Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics, 2nd ed. Wiley InterScience, 2007.Google Scholar

[6] J. D., Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd ed. Wiley, 1998.Google Scholar

[7] D. J., Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics, 3rd ed. Prentice Hall, 1999.Google Scholar

[8] K. E., Oughstun, Electromagnetic and Optical Pulse Propagation: Spectral Representation in Temporally Dispersive Media. Springer, 2006.Google Scholar

[9] M., Born and E., Wolf, Principles of Optics, 7th ed. Cambridge University Press, 1999.Google Scholar

[10] C., Altman and K., Suchy, Reciprocity, Spatial Mapping and Time Reversal in Electromagnetics. Springer, 1991.Google Scholar

[11] H. M., Nussenzveig, Causality and Dispersion Relationships. Academic Press, 1972.Google Scholar

[12] J., Raty, K.-E., Peiponen, and T., Asakura, UV–Visible Reflection Spectroscopy of Liquids. Springer, 2004.Google Scholar

[13] A., Tip, “Linear dispersive dielectrics as limits of Drude–Lorentz systems,” Phys. Rev. E, vol. 69, p. 016610 (5 pages), 2004.Google Scholar

[14] A., Taflove and S. C., Hagness, Computational Electrodynamics: The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method, 3rd ed. Artech House, 2005.Google Scholar

[15] Y. A., Lyubimov, “Permittivity at infinite frequency,” Russ. J. Phys. Chem., vol. 80, pp. 2033–2040, 2006.Google Scholar

[16] S., Havriliak and S., Negami, “A complex plane representation of dielectric and mechanical relaxation processes in some polymers,” Polymer, vol. 8, pp. 161–210, 1967.Google Scholar

[17] C. P., Lindsey and G. D., Patterson, “Detailed comparison of the Williams–Watts and Cole–Davidson functions,” J. Chem. Phys., vol. 73, pp. 3348–3357, 1980.Google Scholar

[18] N. V., Smith, “Classical generalization of the Drude formula for the optical conductivity,” Phys. Rev. B, vol. 64, pp. 155106 (6 pages), 2001.Google Scholar

[19] J. S., Toll, “Causality and dispersion relation: Logical foundations,” Phys. Rev., vol. 104, pp. 1760–1770, 1956.Google Scholar

[20] B., Nistad and J., Skaar, “Causality and electromagnetic properties of active media,” Phys. Rev. E, vol. 78, p. 036603 (10 pages), 2008.Google Scholar

[21] J., Skaar, “Fresnel equations and the refractive index of active media,” Phys. Rev. E, vol. 73, p. 026605 (7 pages), 2006.Google Scholar

[22] L. D., Landau and E. M., Lifshitz, Electrodynamics of Continuous Media, 2nd ed. Course of Theoretical Physics, vol. 8. Pergamon Press, 1984.Google Scholar

[23] S. A., Ramakrishna, “Physics of negative refractive index materials,” Rep. Prog. Phys., vol. 68, pp. 449–521, 2005.Google Scholar

[24] A., Lakhtakia, J. B., Geddes, and T. G., Mackay, “When does the choice of the refractive index of a linear, homogeneous, isotropic, active, dielectric medium matter?” Opt. Express, vol. 15, pp. 17709–17714, 2007. Available online: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-15-26-17709.Google Scholar

[25] R. A., Depine and A., Lakhtakia, “A new condition to identify isotropic dielectricmagnetic materials displaying negative phase velocity,” Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 41, pp. 315–316, 2004.Google Scholar

[26] M. W., McCall, A., Lakhtakia, and W. S., Weiglhofer, “The negative index of refraction demystified,” Eur. J. Phys., vol. 23, pp. 353–359, 2002.Google Scholar

[27] P., Kinsler and M. W., McCall, “Causality-based criteria for negative refractive index must be used with care,” Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 101, p. 167401 (4 pages), 2008.Google Scholar

[28] J., Skaar, “On resolving the refractive index and the wave vector,” Opt. Lett., vol. 31, pp. 3372–3374, 2006.Google Scholar

[29] P. A., Sturrock, “Kinematics of growing waves,” Phys. Rev., vol. 112, pp. 1488–1503, 1958.Google Scholar

[30] R. J., Birggs, Electron-Stream Interactions with Plasmas. Cambridge University Press, 1964.Google Scholar

[31] A. I., Akhiezer and R. V., Polovin, “Criteria for wave growth,” Sov. Phys. Usp., vol. 14, pp. 278–285, 1971.Google Scholar

[32] D. C., Hutchings, M., Sheik-Bahae, D. J., Hagan, and E. W. V., Stryland, “Kramers–Kronig relations in nonlinear optics,” Opt. Quant. Electron., vol. 24, pp. 1–30, 1992.Google Scholar

[33] T. W., Gamelin, Complex Analysis. Springer, 2001.Google Scholar

[34] R. Z., Bachrach and F. C., Brown, “Exciton-optical properties of TlBr and TlCl,” Phys. Rev. B, vol. 1, pp. 818–831, 1970.Google Scholar

Book contents

1 - Introduction

Summary

Access options

References

Save book to Kindle

Save book to Dropbox

Save book to Google Drive