Spontaneous Emission and Nonlinear Response Enhancements by Silver Nanoparticles in Nd3+ doped Periodically Poled LiNbO3 Laser Crystal

Periodic arrays of silver nanoparticles are photochemically self-assembled on the domain walls of a Nd³⁺-doped periodically-poled ferroelectric laser crystal producing an enhancement of the  Nd³⁺ luminescence, together with a remarkable intensification of the quadratic nonlinear second harmonic generation with the periodicity of the metallic arrays.