Second Harmonic Generation in Microstructured Barium Titanate

Abstract

We investigate the second harmonic generation under femtosecond pulse-periodic laser radiation in barium titanate in the form of ceramics, in pores of a globular photonic crystal, and in a water colloidal suspension. We measure the dependence of the second harmonic radiation intensity on the incident laser power. Excitation of the second harmonic was carried out by powerful (10⁸ W) pulses of a solid-state Yb:KGW laser (wavelength, 1,026 nm) operating at 200 kHz. We estimate the efficiency of the second harmonic generation in various microstructured phases of barium titanate and show that the threshold of plasma formation in a suspension of barium titanate microparticles in water is substantially higher than in ceramics and in the ferroelectric photonic crystal. The second-harmonicgeneration power can be significantly increased in a water suspension of barium titanate microparticles.