Second-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 liquidcrystal material reported so far (ZLI3654) is made, which shows that SCE9 is four times more efficient at frequency doubling. At the phase-matching angle (theta = 19.1 degrees ) a d(eff) of 0.010(1) x 10(-12) m/V is measured. The results are consistent with near uniaxiality, the extent of which has been determined from experimental data (n(y) - n(x) = 0.0003, n(2) - n(x) = 0.17).