Single crystals have played a major role in most technological applications, either in the form of
bulk crystals (three-dimensional) or epitaxial thin films (two-dimensional). Interest in the growth
small fiber crystals, which may be viewed as being nearly one-dimensional, is much more recent,
and has been stimulated, in large part, by their advantages over bulk media and their potential for
use in a variety of fiber optic applications. Moreover, long fibers of optical quality are easier and
faster to grow than equivalently thick single crystal materials, the cost of growing fibers is
substantially less than de cost of growing of single crystals and, at last, the material in fiber form is
more flexible than bulk form. The unique properties of these near one-dimensional crystals
(diameters in the range 1 - 1000 mm) offer interesting possibilities for a variety of optical, electronic,
magnetic and structural devices such as modulators, switches, harmonic generators, mixers,
up-converters and parametric oscillators.