Generation of reflected second-harmonic light beam with inhomogeneous transversal distribution of polarization from the surface of chiral medium by normally incident Gaussian beam

Abstract

A principle possibility of second harmonic generation (SHG) from the surface of a chiral medium by normally incident focused fundamental beam has been shown earlier, and the key features of this phenomenon (forbidden in a planewave approximation) have been outlined in [N.I. Koroteev, V.A. Makarov, S.N. Volkov, Laser Phys. 8 (1998) 532–535]. In our work we have obtained analytical expressions, which describe the distributions of intensity and polarization in the cross-section of a second-harmonic (SH) light beam. It is found that the polarization state drastically changes along the cross-section of the signal light beam. The polarization effects concerning the transversal inhomogeneous polarization distribution were studied in detail. It is shown that the measurement of the polarization state in certain areas of the SH beam cross-section gives us quantitative information directly about the medium material constants.