Determining the values of second-order surface nonlinearities by measurements with wave plates of different retardations

Abstract

We measured the second harmonic generation response of a thin film consisting of chiral molecules with four wave plates having different retardation coefficients. By means of the fitting procedure described in a previously reported formalism, we demonstrated that a single set of tensor components of second order surface nonlinearities fits all the data. Our results provide clear experimental evidence for the validity of this method, which can find applications in the studies of chiral structures and achiral anisotropic materials.