We describe electric-field poling of fine-pitch ferroelectric domain gratings in lithium tantalate and characterization of nonlinear-optical properties by single-pass quasi-phase-matched second-harmonic generation (QPM SHG). With a 7.5-microm-period grating, the observed effective nonlinear coefficient for first-order QPM SHG of 532-nm radiation is 9 pm/V, whereas for a grating with a 2.625-microm period, 2.6 pm/V was observed for second-order QPM SHG of 325-nm radiation. These values are 100% and 55% of the theoretically expected values, respectively. We derive a temperature-dependent Sellmeier equation for lithium tantalate that is valid deeper into the UV than currently available results, based on temperature-tuning experiments at different QPM grating periods combined with refractive-index data in the literature.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

In this article, an approach to integrate contemporary quantum physics into secondary school teaching is presented. The Erlanger concept on quantum optics provides an experimental-based guideway to aspects of modern quantum physics. We avoid the traditional historical approach in order to overcome the lack of modern concepts of quantum physics. In an acceptance survey, initial empirical evidence for the acceptance of the developed explanatory approaches was evaluated.