of the Gaussian beam will imply a phase-shift between the SHGs generated at the edges of the focal volume, and can thus result in destructive interferences (zero signal) if there are dipoles at these edges having the same orientation (case (d) in the figure). Commercial uses Second-harmonic generation is used by the laser industry to make green 532 nm lasers from a 1064 nm source. The 1064 nm light is fed through a bulk KDP crystal. In high-quality diode lasers the crystal is coated on the output side with an infrared filter to prevent leakage of intense 1064 nm or 808 nm infrared light into the beam. Both of these wavelengths are invisible and do not trigger the defensive "blink-reflex" reaction in the eye and can therefore be a special hazard to the human eyes. Furthermore, some laser safety eyewear intended for argon or other green lasers may filter out the green component (giving a false sense of safety), but transmit the infrared. Nevertheless, some "green laser pointer" products have become available on the market which omit the expensive infrared filter, often without warning. Second-harmonic generation is also used for measuring ultra short pulse width with autocorrelators. Other applications Ultra-short pulse measurement Characterizing an ultrashort pulse (like measuring its temporal width) cannot be done directly with electronics only, as the time-scale is below 1ps (sec) : it needs to use the pulse itself, that is why an autocorrelation function is often used. SHG has the advantage of mixing two input fields to generate the harmonic one, it is thus a good candidate (but not the only one) to perform such a pulse measurement. Optical autocorrelation, in its intensity or fringe-resolved (interferometric) version use SHG, unlike field autocorrelation. Also, most versions of the FROG (called SHG-FROG) use SHG to mix the delayed fields. Second-harmonic generation microscopy In biological and medical science, the effect of second-harmonic generation is used for high-resolution optical microscopy. Because of the non-zero second-harmonic coefficient, only non-centrosymmetric structures are capable of emitting SHG light. One such structure is collagen, which is found in most load-bearing tissues. Using a short-pulse laser such as a femtosecond laser and a set of appropriate filters the excitation light can be easily separated from the emitted, frequency-doubled SHG signal. This allows for very high axial and lateral resolution comparable to that of confocal microscopy without having to use pinholes. SHG microscopy has been