Nonlinear Optical Eigenmodes

Optical eigenmode are defined as electromagnetic waves, solutions of Maxwell's equations that are orthogonal to each other. In short, they generalise the concept of modes to a much wider range optical beams. This new concept can be used to overcome the classical diffraction limit, for example. More generally, this technique can be used to represent light fields in a natural basis. Indeed, for any linear measurement device/system we can find a set of orthogonal electromagnetic fields that corresponds to the measure. These fields are the optical eigenmodes of this specific measure akin to the eigenstates of an observable in quantum mechanics. However, in the optical domain, depending on the light power used, we can induce non-linear phenomena. The standard optical eigenmode technique breaks down in this case. This PhD project aims to study the extension of the linear optical eigenmode technique to the nonlinear case. This extension can be achieved via the concept multilinear algebra and higher order tensor space. This is a theoretical/modelling PhD that has the potential to lead to experiments and to a deep understanding of non-linear optics.

Training: Minimum of 40 hours of SUPA technical courses and 20 hours of core skills courses are to be taken in the first two years of the PhD.

10 days (minimum) skill development per year is to be undertaken which can included software development and conferences and other types of training.


Key Words: Structured light, non-linear optics and orthogonal illumination