非线性光学主要用来研究非线性的光学现象和理论。

介质产生的极化强度决定于入射光的电场强度，其作用可用多项式展开成多阶形式.在通常的弱光条件下，高阶项因为系数很小而可以忽略，此时可近似看成一种线性关系。但是在强激光场作用下（通常在10 V/m左右，由激光脉冲提供），极化强度的高阶项强度不可被忽略，非线性作用出现，从而可以实现光和光之间的相互作用。入射光的强度越高，高阶非线性效应越明显。非线性光学直到激光出现后，人们对二次谐波产生的发现才发展起来。(Peter Franken et al. at University of Michigan in 1961)

Nonlinear optics (NLO) is the branch of optics that describes the behavior of light in nonlinear media, that is, media in which the dielectric polarization P responds nonlinearly to the electric field E of the light. This nonlinearity is typically only observed at very high light intensities (values of the electric field comparable to interatomic electric fields, typically 10 V/m) such as those provided by lasers. Above the Schwinger limit, the vacuum itself is expected to become nonlinear. In nonlinear optics, the superposition principle no longer holds.