npj Computational Materials (Nov 2022)

Analytical and numerical modeling of optical second harmonic generation in anisotropic crystals using ♯SHAARP package

  • Rui Zu,
  • Bo Wang,
  • Jingyang He,
  • Jian-Jun Wang,
  • Lincoln Weber,
  • Long-Qing Chen,
  • Venkatraman Gopalan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-022-00930-4
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Abstract Electric-dipole optical second harmonic generation (SHG) is a second-order nonlinear process that is widely used as a sensitive probe to detect broken inversion symmetry and local polar order. Analytical modeling of the SHG polarimetry of a nonlinear optical material is essential to extract its point group symmetry and the absolute nonlinear susceptibilities. Current literature on SHG analysis involves numerous approximations and a wide range of (in)accuracies. We have developed an open-source package called the Second Harmonic Analysis of Anisotropic Rotational Polarimetry (♯SHAARP.si) which derives analytical and numerical solutions of reflection SHG polarimetry from a single interface (.si) for bulk homogeneous crystals with arbitrary symmetry group, arbitrary crystal orientation, complex and anisotropic linear dielectric tensor with frequency dispersion, a general SHG tensor and arbitrary light polarization. ♯SHAARP.si enables accurate modeling of polarimetry measurements in reflection geometry from highly absorbing crystals or wedge-shaped transparent crystals. The package is extendable to multiple interfaces.