Nonlinear optical phenomena have been used in a wide variety of optical technologies since the recent development of the ultrashort pulsed laser. The high peak power of the pulsed light and the small pulse width allow researchers to induce nonlinear optical phenomena easily, even in biological specimens, without significant thermal damage. Since the nonlinear optical phenomena induced by a tightly-focused laser spot is localized within the small volume of the spot, it is possible to confine the light-material interaction to within a submicron to nano-scale region. The localization effect of the nonlinear optical phenomena has been used for improving various optical technologies, such as laser microscopy, laser processing, data storage, and photofabrication techniques.
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