This research project concerns the study of non-linear effects in a waveguide geometry. The interest lies in the possibility of concentrating energy and of increasing the local field via the excitation of electromagnetic resonance, like plasmon-polaritons or guided waves. The project will have a special interest in gratings and corrugated structures and the prospects for second-harmonic generation, four-wave mixing and other non-linear effects in signal processing which are becoming increasingly realistic. The industrial objective is to equip European industry with sensors and other devices, yet there remains a formalism gap. This collaboration will create the perfect partnership to generate new formalisms for the study of optical bistability in thin crystals near excitation transitions; the use of phase gratings in four-wave mixing; and the theory of second-harmonic generation on rough surfaces and chirped gratings.

The study of non-linear effects that are specific to the coupling of a grating and waveguide properties is expected to give an efficient means of modulating light, doubling frequency, and so on. The advent of new materials like superlattices opens up the possibility that multistable behaviour may replace bistable systems. The ideas developed here will have a positive impact on progress towards all-optical computing.