Mutual action of optical activity effect and linear electro-optic effect in periodically poled “gyroelectric” crystal

Abstract

The wave coupling theory for the mutual action of optical activity (OA) effect and linear electro-optic (EO) effect in quasi-phase matched (QPM) materials is developed, and some relevant numerical results in periodically poled 5PbO·3GeO2 are given. The QPM linear EO effect in “gyroelectric” crystal exhibits quite different phenomena from that in normal QPM materials, since the QPM condition of OA effect coincides with that of linear EO effect. The OA effect cannot be ignored when studying the QPM linear EO effect in QPM crystals with optical activity even although the light wave deviates from the optical axis. The mutual action of QPM linear EO effect and QPM OA effect can find its application in optical filtering and switching. In addition, our study may inspire people to study further about the mutual action of QPM OA effect and other second-order nonlinear optics process, which is helpful to know the molecular chirality of OA materials and the essential role it plays in nonlinear optics processes.