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Embedded germanium nanocrystals ͑NCs͒ in a silica host matrix are theoretically analyzed to identify their third-order bound-state nonlinearities. A rigorous atomistic pseudopotential approach is used for determining the electronic structure and the nonlinear optical susceptibilities. This study characterizing the two-photon absorption, nonlinear refractive index, and optical switching parameters reveals the full wavelength dependence from static up to the ultraviolet spectrum, and the size dependence up to a diameter of 3.5 nm. Similar to Si NCs, the intensity-dependent refractive index increases with decreasing NC diameter. On the other hand, Ge NCs possess about an order of magnitude smaller nonlinear susceptibility compared to Si NCs of the same size. It is observed that the two-photon absorption threshold extends beyond the half band-gap value. This enables nonlinear refractive index tunability over a much wider wavelength range free from two-photon absorption.

Effects of the magnetic field on nonlinear optical properties at THz range in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells doped with donor atoms are investigated. Expressions for the third‐order nonlinear optical susceptibilities are obtained through the solution of the density matrix equations of motion within the rotating wave approximation. Donor binding energies are calculated variationally by means of an iterative shooting algorithm. Magnetic field has strong effect on the nonlinear susceptibility: it removes the degeneracy in energies of 2p± impurity states and increases the absolute value of the nonlinearity. It is also shown that a large and tunable optical nonlinear figure of merit is possible with the magnetic field applied in the growth direction. The nonlinear optical quantities are also calculated for donor distributions with different full width at half maximum values in the absence of magnetic field and the observed features at low energy part are attributed to the increasing homogeneity in the donor distribution.