Susceptibility tensors, nonlinear optics

The polarization P is given in tenns of E by the constitutive relation of the material. For the present discussion, we assume that the polarization P r) depends only on the field E evaluated at the same position r. This is the so-called dipole approximation. In later discussions, however, we will consider, in some specific cases, the contribution of a polarization that has a non-local spatial dependence on the optical field. Once we have augmented the system of equation B 1.5.16. equation B 1.5.17. equation B 1.5.18. equation B 1.5.19 and equation B 1.5.20 with the constitutive relation for the dependence of Pon E, we may solve for the radiation fields. This relation is generally characterized tlirough the use of linear and nonlinear susceptibility tensors, the subject to which we now turn. 

Given the interest and importance of chiral molecules, there has been considerable activity in investigating die corresponding chiral surfaces [, and 70]. From the point of view of perfomiing surface and interface spectroscopy with nonlinear optics, we must first examhie the nonlinear response of tlie bulk liquid. Clearly, a chiral liquid lacks inversion synnnetry. As such, it may be expected to have a strong (dipole-allowed) second-order nonlinear response. This is indeed true in the general case of SFG [71]. For SHG, however, the pemiutation synnnetry for the last two indices of the nonlinear susceptibility tensor combined with the... 

If the electric dipole contribution dominates in the total SH response, the macroscopic response can be related to the presence of optically nonlinear active compounds at the interface. In this case, the susceptibility tensor is the sum of the contribution of each single molecule, all of them coherently radiating. For a collection of compounds, it yields ... 

In order to describe second-order nonlinear optical effects, it is not sufficient to treat (> and x<2) as a scalar quantity. Instead the second-order polarizability and susceptibility must be treated as a third-rank tensors 3p and Xp with 27 components and the dipole moment, polarization, and electric field as vectors. As such, the relations between the dipole moment (polarization) vector and the electric field vector can be defined as ... 

There are different paths to achieving surface specificity. One can exploit optical susceptibilities and resonances that are nonzero only at the surface or only for the molecular species of interest adsorbed on the surface. Examples include the use of second-order nonlinear mixing processes such as second harmonic generation7-9 for which the nonlinear susceptibility tensor is nonzero only where inversion symmetry is broken. Spectroscopic techniques with very high selectivity for molecular resonances such as surface-enhanced infrared or Raman spectroscopy10-12 may also be used. 

One result of studying nonlinear optical phenomena is, for instance, the determination of this susceptibility tensor, which supplies information about the anharmonicity of the potential between atoms in a crystal lattice. A simple electrodynamic model which relates the anharmonic motion of the bond charge to the higher-order nonlinear susceptibilities has been proposed by Levine The application of his theory to calculations of the nonlinearities in a-quarz yields excellent agreement with experimental data. 

For dipolar chromophores that are the subject of this chapter, only one component of the molecular hyperpolarizability tensor, Pzzz, is important. Thus, the summation in Eq. (8) disappears. Electric field poling induces Cv cylindrical polar symmetry. Assuming Kleinman [12] symmetry, only two independent components of the macroscopic second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility tensor... 

Summation over repeated indices is implied and is the th-order susceptibility tensor that describes the interaction between the electric fields and the material. The first two terms on the right-hand side of Equation 8.A1 give the spontaneous polarization and linear optics effects. The last two terms lead to various phenomena in nonlinear optics. They include SHG and EO Pockels and Kerr effects. The EO susceptibilities are obtained by combining optical and static fields therefore, the susceptibilities that describe the EO Pockels and Kerr effects are (-co, co, 0) and x% respectively. In a... 

From the two descriptions of the Pockels effect in the frameworks of electro-op-tics and nonlinear optics, one can show that the electro-optic tensor elements and the second-order nonlinear susceptibility elements are related by... 

To understand and optimize the electro-optic properties of polymers by the use of molecular engineering, it is of primary importance to be able to relate their macroscopic properties to the individual molecular properties. Such a task is the subject of intensive research. However, simple descriptions based on the oriented gas model exist [ 20,21 ] and have proven to be in many cases a good approximation for the description of poled electro-optic polymers [22]. The oriented gas model provides a simple way to relate the macroscopic nonlinear optical properties such as the second-order susceptibility tensor elements expressed in the orthogonal laboratory frame X,Y,Z, and the microscopic hyperpolarizability tensor elements that are given in the orthogonal molecular frame x,y,z (see Fig. 9). 

The oriented gas model was first employed by Chemla et al. [4] to extract molecular second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties from crystal data and was based on earlier work by Bloembergen [5]. In this model, molecular hyperpolarizabilities are assumed to be additive and the macroscopic crystal susceptibilities are obtained by performing a tensor sum of the microscopic hyperpolarizabilities of the molecules that constitute the unit cell. The effects of the surroundings are approximated by using simple local field factors. The second-order nonlinear response, for example, is given by... 

Most linear optical phenomena such as refraction, absorption and Rayleigh scattering are described by the first term in Eq. (1) where is the linear susceptibility tensor. The higher order terms and susceptibilities are responsible for nonlinear optical effects. The second-order susceptibility tensor T underlies SFG, whereas and BioCARS arises within As we are concerned with optical effects of randomly oriented molecules in fluids, we need to consider unweighted orientational averages of the susceptibility tensors in Eq. (1). We will show that the symmetries of the corresponding isotropic components and correspond to time-even pseudoscalars the hallmark of chiral observables [2]. 

Symmetry arguments show that parity-odd, time-even molecular properties which have a non-vanishing isotropic part underlie chirality specific experiments in liquids. In linear optics it is the isotropic part of the optical rotation tensor, G, that gives rise to optical rotation and vibrational optical activity. Pseudoscalars can also arise in nonlinear optics. Similar to tlie optical rotation tensor, the odd-order susceptibilities require magnetic-dipole (electric-quadrupole) transitions to be chirally sensitive. 

The theoretical framework developed above is valid in the electric dipole approximation. In this context, it is assumed that the nonlinear polarization PfL(2 >) is reduced to the electric dipole contribution as given in Eq. (1). This assumption is only valid if the surface susceptibility tensor x (2 > >, a>) is large enough to dwarf the contribution from higher orders of the multipole expansion like the electric quadrupole contribution and is therefore the simplest approximation for the nonlinear polarization. At pure solvent interfaces, this may not be the case, since the nonlinear optical activity of solvent molecules like water, 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE), alcohols, or alkanes is rather low. The magnitude of the molecular hyperpolarizability of water, measured by DC electric field induced second harmonic... 

As implied by the trace expression for the macroscopic optical polarization, the macroscopic electrical susceptibility tensor at any order can be written in terms of an ensemble average over the microscopic nonlinear polarizability tensors of the individual constituents. 

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