Second harmonic generation in α-Si:H thin films: Thickness dependence

The second harmonic generation (SHG) technique has been applied to investigate the nonlinear optical properties of thin films of hydrogenated amorphous silicon on a glass substrate. SHG measurements have been performed in two transmission experimental schemes. Modeling of a film as a three-layer structure and considering the interference and absorption at the SH wavelength have been carried out. The dependence of the nonlinear susceptibility on the film thickness was used to separate the bulk electric dipole contribution.