Augmentation of surface plasmon-enhanced second harmonic generation from Au nanoprisms on SiO₂/Si: interference...

We present an augmentation of Surface Plasmon (SP)-enhanced second harmonic generation (SHG) due to interference field enhancement in Au nanoprisms (AuNPs) on SiO₂-coated Si substrates. The SiO₂ spacer contributed for the optical interference and increased the coupling efficiency of the pump light with the SP polarization as well as a decoupling efficiency of the SHG waves from nonlinear polarization. The intensity of the SP-enhanced SHG signals increased 4.5-fold with respect to the AuNPs on the bare SiO₂ substrate by setting the SiO₂ spacer layer to the appropriate thickness. The numerical analysis revealed that the optimal SHG conversion was determined by the balance between the degree of the optical interference at the fundamental and SHG wavelengths.