The 

Kerr effect, also called the quadratic electro-optic (QEO) effect, is a change in

the refractive index of a material in response to an applied electric field. The Kerr effect is distinct
from the Pockels effect in that the induced index change is directly proportional to the square of
the electric field instead of varying linearly with it. All materials show a Kerr effect, but certain
liquids display it more strongly than others. The Kerr effect was discovered in 1875 by John Kerr,
a Scottish physicis Two special cases of the Kerr effect are normally considered, these being the
Kerr electro-optic effect, or DC Kerr effect, and the optical Kerr effect, or AC Kerr effect.The
optical Kerr effect, or AC Kerr effect is the case in which the electric field is due to the light itself.
This causes a variation in index of refraction which is proportional to the local irradiance of the
light.[5] This refractive index variation is responsible for the nonlinear optical effects of self-
focusing, self-phase modulation and modulational instability, and is the basis for Kerr-lens
modelocking. This effect only becomes significant with very intense beams such as those
from lasers. The optical Kerr effect has also been observed to dynamically alter the mode-
coupling properties in multimode fiber, a technique that has potential applications for all-optical
switching mechanisms, nanophotonic systems and low-dimensional photo-sensors devices.
 transverse intensity pattern of the beam. For example, a Gaussian beam results in a Gaussian
refractive index profile, similar to that of a gradient-index lens. This causes the beam to focus
itself, a phenomenon known as self-focusing.
As the beam self-focuses, the peak intensity increases which, in turn, causes more self-focusing
to occur. The beam is prevented from self-focusing indefinitely by nonlinear effects such
as multiphoton ionization, which become important when the intensity becomes very high. As the
intensity of the self-focused spot increases beyond a certain value, the medium is ionized by the
high local optical field. This lowers the refractive index, defocusing the propagating light beam.
Propagation then proceeds in a series of repeated focusing and defocusing steps.

the most general case third-order nonlinear processes can relate up to four different frequency
components,  . The 3rd-order nonlinear susceptibility   is a tensor of rank 4,
described in the most general case by   independent components. The 3rd-order nonlinear
polarization can be given by following a similar procedure developed for the description of the 2nd-
order effects. The polarization at frequency   is given by

(5.1)

The description of the general four-wave mixing (FWM) process involves the solution of four coupled
wave equations.

In this chapter we will consider a few practically important specific examples. These include third-
harmonic generation (THG) and the Kerr effect. As a special case of the latter the intensity-dependent
refractive index is considered.

5.1. Third-harmonic generation

Third-harmonic generation (THG) starts with an input pump field at the fundamental
frequency  rd
 and the 3 -harmonic field is generated at the frequency   (see
also Section 3.1). The field inside the medium is composed of two monochromatic frequency
components:

(5.2)

The 3rd-order polarization can be given as follows:

(5.3)

By substituting the Fourier amplitudes of the above two-component field into this expression and
selecting the terms contributing to the polarization at the 3rd harmonic the following expression is
obtained:

(5.4)
By writing out the coordinate indices explicitly this gives:

(5.5)

where   can take the values  . Please note the change in the meaning of the indices
(denoting Cartesian coordinates rather than the frequency component) and the arguments of the field
quantities (denoting the frequency rather than the propagation distance  ). The  -dependence and
the order of nonlinearity are not written out explicitly.

THG can be treated similarly to SHG, described by two coupled wave equations. In the limiting case
of negligible pump depletion we get similar result for the 3rd harmonic field:

(5.6)

The phase-mismatch parameter is defined as  . The intensity of the third harmonic
beam is given by

(5.7)

Notice the cubic dependence of the THG intensity on that of the fundamental.

5.2. Kerr effect

The Kerr effect describes the change of the refractive index of a medium induced by an external field
via third-order nonlinear interaction. In the DC Kerr effect a strong DC field induces the refractive
index change. In the optical or AC Kerr effect the refractive index change is induced by an optical
field. A special case of this is when an intense optical beam modifies its own refractive index.

In this Section structurally isotropic media will be assumed for simplicity. Gases, liquids, and
amorphous solids are examples of such media. Please note that cubic crystals are optically isotropic
but not structurally. For structurally isotropic media only 21 out of 81 elements of   are non-zero,
which can be grouped in four types  . The following relations hold:

(5.8)

and for the individual tensor components of each type:

(5.9)

(5.10)

(5.11)

(5.12)
Hence, a structurally isotropic medium has 3 independent   components. The tensor nature of the
linear and nonlinear susceptibilities will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 6.

DC Kerr effect

A DC (zero-frequency) field   is applied across the medium through which

propagates an optical field with frequency   (Fig. 5.1). The nonlinear polarization is

(5.13)

Let us assume that the DC field is in the   direction and the optical field propagates
in the   direction. The nonlinear polarization at the optical frequency can be written
as

(5.14)

(5.15)

Thus, there is a nonlinear contribution to the polarization at the optical frequency

which is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the applied DC field.

Figure 5.1. Arrangement for the DC Kerr effect.

The induced change of the refractive index is different for light polarized parallel and
perpendicular to the applied DC field. This means that the birefringence of the
medium is changed (or a birefringence is induced) as
 (5.16)

A Kerr constant   is defined by the relation

(5.17)

with  . The DC Kerr effect can be used for optical switching. This requires
that the optical beam propagates a half-wave distance through the medium placed
between crossed polarizers:

(5.18)

Optical Kerr effect

In the optical or AC Kerr effect an intense optical beam at frequency   modulates the refractive
index for a co-propagating weak probe beam at frequency  . This effect is also called as cross-
phase modulation (XPM). Let us assume that both fields are polarized in the   direction. The
nonlinear polarization is:

(5.19)

The refractive index of the weak wave is changed by

(5.20)

In case of  -polarized probe beam and  -polarized strong beam, the type 4 coefficient becomes
effective rather than the type 1:

(5.21)

Therefore, the index change is smaller.

5.3. Intensity-dependent refractive index

Intensity-dependent refractive index (IDRI) is a special case of the optical Kerr effect. It occurs when
an intense optical beam propagates in a medium thereby changing its refractive index. This self-
induced refractive index change is influencing the propagation of the beam.

The field inside the medium has the form

 (5.22)

By substituting the corresponding Fourier amplitude into the general expression of the 3 rd-order
polarization given above one obtains

(5.23)

where intrinsic permutation symmetry (IPS) was taken into account. For a beam polarized in the   
direction the nonlinear polarization is given by:

(5.24)

The refractive index if the medium is

(5.25)

where   is the low-intensity refractive index and   is called the nonlinear refractive index.

In case of circularly and elliptically polarized light the effects of IDRI become more complex.

(5.26)

(5.27)

with   and  . For a beam propagating in the   

direction  . Since the two terms containing the coefficient   
in the above expressions contain   and  . This has the consequence that
when circularly (e.g. counter-clockwise) polarized light enters the medium this term
will lead to the generation of nonlinear polarization with the opposite circular (e.g.
clockwise) polarization. This is shown by the following expression explicitly:

(5.28)

As a consequence of this feature, for elliptically polarized light, the axes of the ellipse rotate during
propagation. For linearly or circularly polarized light the polarization state remains unchanged. The
above expression giving the refractive index change illustrates this for linearly polarized light: the
expression does not contain the coefficient  . For circularly polarized light the corresponding
equation is:
 (5.29)

Self-focusing

IDRI has important practical relevance. One consequence is self-focusing. Self-focusing of light is the
process in which an intense beam modifies the refractive index of the medium such that the beam is
caused to come to a focus within the material (Fig. 5.2a). Here we have assumed that   is positive.
As a result, the laser beam induces a refractive index variation within the material with a larger
refractive index at the center of the beam than at its periphery (Fig. 5.3). Thus the material acts as if it
were a positive lens, causing the beam to come to a focus within the material.

Figure 5.2. Schematic illustration of three self-action effects: (a) self-focusing of light, (b) self-trapping
of light, and (c) laser beam breakup, showing the transverse distribution of intensity of a beam that
has broken up into many filaments.
 Figure 5.3. Distortion of the phase front of a collimated laser beam due to IDRI.

Another self-action effect is the self-trapping of light (Fig. 5.2b). In this process a
beam propagates with a constant diameter as a consequence of an exact balance
between self-focusing and diffraction. Self-trapping can occur only if the power
carried by the beam is exactly equal to the so-called critical power for self-trapping.

(5.30)

Self-focusing can occur only if the beam power   is greater than  . The exact value of   
depends on the precise beam profile, and is usually close to 2.

The final self-action effect shown in Figure 5.2c is laser beam breakup. This process occurs only
for   and leads to the breakup of the beam into many components each carrying
approximately power  . This process occurs as a consequence of the growth of imperfections of
the laser wavefront by means of the amplification associated with the forward four-wave mixing
process.

A simple model of the self-focusing process can be given by ignoring the effects of diffraction. The
neglect of diffraction is justified if the beam diameter or intensity (or both) is sufficiently large. Figure
5.4 shows a collimated beam of characteristic radius   and an on-axis intensity   falling onto a
nonlinear optical material with positive  . Fermat’s principle can be used to determine the

distance   from the input face to the self-focus. It states that the optical path length   of
all rays traveling from a wavefront at the input face to the self-focus must be equal. As a first
approximation, we take the refractive index along the marginal ray to be the linear refractive
index   and the refractive index along the central ray to be  . According to Fermat’s
principle:

(5.31)

where the angle   is defined in the Figure. Solving the approximate expression for  , we find
that

(5.32)

This quantity is known as the self-focusing angle and in general can be interpreted as the
characteristic angle through which a beam of light is deviated as a consequence of self-action effects.
The ratio   of nonlinear to linear refractive index is invariably a small quantity, thus
justifying the use of the paraxial approximation. In terms of the self-focusing angle, we can calculate
the characteristic self-focusing distance as   or as

(5.33)

Figure 5.4. Prediction of the self-focusing distance   by means of Fermat’s principle. The curved
ray trajectories within the nonlinear material are approximated as straight lines.

Questions and problems

1. Derive the expression for the nonlinear polarization at the 3rd harmonic.
2. Derive the coupled wave equations for THG.
3. Derive the Manley–Rowe relations for THG.
4. Derive the expression for nonlinear polarization in case of the intensity-dependent refractive
index.