2ND-HARMONIC GENERATION IN FERROELECTRIC LIQUID-CRYSTALS

We present phase-matched, second-harmonic generation in the ferroelectric liquid-crystal material SCE9 (manufactured by BDH Ltd.). From the analysis of these results, the absolute values of all nonzero components of the d tensor have been obtained. A direct comparison between this material and the most efficient ferroelectric liquid-crystal material reported so far (ZLI3654) is made, which shows that SCE9 is four times more efficient at frequency doubling. At the phase-matching angle (θ = 19.1°) a deff of 0.010(1) × 10−12 m/V is measured. The results are consistent with near uniaxiality, the extent of which has been determined from experimental data (ny - nx = 0.0003, nz - nx= 0.17). © 1990 Optical Society of America.