OPTICAL NONLINEAR DEVICES

Theoretical and experimental results are described of several nonlinea r optical structures and devices investigated by our group, that may p otentially be usable for certain applications. Three groups of devices are addressed: a multiple quantum well switching device, a bistable s emiconductor periodic multilayered structure and an optical harmonic m ixer. Conclusions summarize results achieved up to date and point out some possible future paths to device concepts and their implementation s, as well as potential applications in optical fiber communications, computing and signal processing.