Nonlinear photonic crystals: I. Quadratic nonlinearity

We develop a consistent mathematical theory of weakly nonlinear periodic dielectric media for the dimensions one, two and three. The theory is based on the Maxwell equations with classical quadratic and cubic constitutive relations. In particular, we give a complete classification of different nonlinear interactions between Floquet–Bloch modes based on indices which measure the strength of the interactions. The indices take on a small number of prescribed values which are collected in a table. The theory rests on the asymptotic analysis of oscillatory integrals describing the nonlinear interactions. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version; see www.iop.org)