ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the reader with a listing of key nonlinear optical processes, materials, and interaction parameters necessary to realize many of the applications. Nonlinear optical phase conjugation (NOPC) has been the topic of intense research efforts during the past two decades. In addition to being considered as a technique for all optical, real-time adaptive optical compensation, the field of NOPC has grown to encompass a large variety of potential applications for both high power and low-power systems. Semiconductors are particularly promising materials in the infrared spectral region, because the nonlinear susceptibility in most cases increases rapidly as the operating wavelength increases. In addition, the susceptibility is larger in materials with smaller values of band gap energy. Finally, the chapter gives a brief summary of interactions and materials that have been employed to realize wave front-reversal, but which did not fall into theses major categories.
