Mechanism of the electro-optic effect and nonlinear optical susceptibilities of some ferroelectrics: ab initio calculation

TL;DR

This paper uses first-principles density functional theory calculations to analyze the nonlinear optical and electro-optic properties of ferroelectric materials, providing theoretical insights that align with experimental data.

Contribution

It presents ab initio calculations of nonlinear optical susceptibilities and electro-optic effects in ferroelectrics without relying on empirical approximations.

Findings

Calculated dielectric functions and second harmonic generation coefficients over a broad frequency range.

Electronic electro-optic susceptibilities agree with experimental results below the band gap.

Theoretical data for nonlinear susceptibilities compare favorably with experimental measurements.

Abstract

The nonlinear optical properties and electro-optic effects of some oxygen-octahedric ferroelectrics are studied by the density functional theory (DFT) in the local density approximation (LDA) expressions based on first principle calculations without the scissor approximation. We present calculations of the frequency- dependent complex dielectric function and the second harmonic generation response coefficient \c{hi}(2)(-2{\omega},{\omega},{\omega}) over a large frequency range in tetragonal and rhombohedral phases. The electronic linear electrooptic susceptibility \c{hi}(2) (-{\omega},{\omega},0) is also evaluated below the band gap. These results are based on a series of the LDA calculation using DFT. Results for \c{hi}(2) (-{\omega},{\omega},0) are in agreement with the experiment below the band gap and those for \c{hi}(2)(-2{\omega},{\omega},{\omega}) are compared with the experimental data where available.