Sum-frequency generation
Nonlinear optical process / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Sum-frequency generation?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
SHOW ALL QUESTIONS
For a description of experimental techniques using sum-frequency generation, see Sum frequency generation spectroscopy.
Sum-frequency generation (SFG) is a second order nonlinear optical process based on the mixing of two input photons at frequencies and to generate a third photon at frequency .[1] As with any optical phenomenon in nonlinear optics, this can only occur under conditions where: the light is interacting with matter, that lacks centrosymmetry (for example, surfaces and interfaces); the light has a very high intensity (typically from a pulsed laser). Sum-frequency generation is a "parametric process",[2] meaning that the photons satisfy energy conservation, leaving the matter unchanged: