The ferroelectric nematic phase: an optimum liquid crystal candidate for nonlinear optics

ABSTRACT

Materials that exhibit high nonlinear optical (NLO) susceptibilities are considered as promising candidates for a wide range of photonic and electronic applications. Here, we argue that the ferroelectric nematic (N_F) materials have sufficient potentialities to become materials for the next-generation of NLO devices. We have carried out a study of the efficiency of optical second-harmonic generation in a prototype N_F material, finding a nonlinear susceptibility of 5.6 pm.V⁻¹ in the transparent regime, one of the highest ever reported in ferroelectric liquid crystals. Given the fact that the studied molecule was not specifically designed for NLO applications, we conclude there is still margin to obtain N_F materials with enhanced properties that should allow their practical use.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Ferroelectric nematic phase
• optical second-harmonic generation
• polar order parameter
• nonlinear optical susceptibility

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the “Servicios Científico Técnicos” of CEQMA, CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea Unibertsitatea [Project GIU18/146], the MICIU/AEI/FEDER, EU funds [Project PGC2018-093761-B-C31] and the Gobierno de Aragón-FSE [Project E47_20R].