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Updated: Jan 5, 2026

Novel Techniques for Observing Structural Dynamics of Photoresponsive Liquid Crystals
Published on: May 29, 2018
Characterization of all second-order nonlinear-optical coefficients of organic N-benzyl-2-methyl-4-nitroaniline
Takashi Notake1, Masahiro Takeda2,3, Shuji Okada4
1Teraphotonics Team, RIKEN, Sendai, Japan. notake@riken.jp.
Abstract:
Full elements of second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) tensor can be completely characterized for an organic NLO crystal for the first time. As-grown bulk N-benzyl-2-methyl-4-nitroaniline (BNA) crystal was processed to expose (100) and (010) crystal orientations with fine optical surfaces by using precision lathe and diamond blade. Then, every five nonvanishing second-order NLO coefficient of BNA can be determined quantitatively using the precisely processed crystals based on 1st-kind Maker fringe measurements. Our method makes it possible to clarify uncertain NLO property of any organic materials and to accelerate application study via precise device fabrications even for fragile organic materials.
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