Highly efficient second-harmonic generation in buried waveguides formed by annealed and reverse proton exchange in periodically poled lithium niobate

Efficient three-wave mixing devices have numerous applications, including wavelength conversion, dispersion compensation, and all-optical switching. Second-harmonic generation (SHG) is a useful diagnostic for near-degenerate operation of these devices. With buried waveguides formed in periodically poled lithium niobate by annealed and reverse proton exchange, we demonstrate what is believed to be the highest normalized conversion efficiency (150%/W cm(2)) for SHG in the 1550-nm communications band reported to date. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.