Enhanced third-harmonic generation in photonic crystals at band-gap pumping

More than one order enhancement of third-harmonic generation is observed experimentally at band-gap pumping of globular photonic crystals. Due to a lateral modulation of the dielectric permittivity in two- and three-dimensional photonic crystals, sharp peaks of light intensity (light localization) arise in the media at the band-gap pumping. The light localization enhances significantly the nonlinear light conversion, in particular, third-harmonic generation, in the near-surface volume of photonic crystal. The observed way to enhance the nonlinear conversion can be useful for creation of novel compact elements of nonlinear and laser optics.