ABSTRACT
This entry reviews the properties of the most important materials, such as ferroelectric and nonferroelectric crystals, ceramics, and semiconductors. It includes an exhaustive presentation of the physical and electro-optic (EO) properties of another important class of materials: the polymers and the liquid crystals (LCs). The remarkable EO properties of LC materials widely contribute to the development of flat-display technologies, which now have an immense industrial impact in the consumer market. Other original applications are emerging: the use of periodically poled EO crystals for efficient nonlinear frequency conversion, the photorefractive holography for information processing, and beam control and crystals having periodical nano-structuration that exhibit photonic bandgap properties for potential signal-processing applications. They will provide a new class of passive and active photonic circuits with unusual characteristics in the future.
