Optical second harmonic images of 90° domain structure in <i>BaTiO</i>3 and periodically inverted antiparallel domains in <i>LiTaO</i>3

Abstract

By using the second harmonic generation (SHG) microscope, which we have recently developed, two-dimensional images of ferroelectric domain structure were successfully obtained by exploiting the inhomogeneous distribution of the quadratic nonlinear optical constant in specimens. 90° domain structure of BaTiO3 was observed with intensity contrast of the second harmonic wave. A periodically inverted antiparallel domain in LiTaO3 was also observed. This fact indicates that the SHG microscope provides a new method of observing antiparallel ferroelectric domain structure in a nondestructive way, which is especially important for characterizing the quasiphase matched devices for compact blue light lasers.