SHG in Micron-Scale Layers of Glasses: Electron Beam Irradiation vs. Thermal Poling

Abstract

In this work, we studied the introduction of second-order optical nonlinearity (SON) into subsurface layer soda-lime and alkali-free flint glasses using two different techniques: electron beam irradiation and thermal poling in an open anode configuration. The experiments showed that thermally poled soda-lime glass and e-beam poled flint glass demonstrated noticeable second-harmonic generation (SHG) with their second-harmonic (SH) signals being close in magnitude. The performed estimates showed that the coincidence in the SH signal intensity in these two glasses cannot be explained in the frames of the model that relates the second-order nonlinear susceptibility with the third-order susceptibility and the “frozen” electric field in glasses (EFISH model). This supposes another mechanism of SON in thermally poled soda-lime glass. We believe that this mechanism is the dipole orientation of entities injected into the soda-lime glass during thermal poling in an open anode configuration.