Optical Third-Harmonic Generation in Reflection from Crystalline and Amorphous Samples of Silicon

Abstract

This Letter reports optical third-harmonic generation in reflection from ion-implanted samples of silicon. The third-harmonic signal is found to exhibit certain novel polarization and rotational dependences, which can be understood with the aid of measurements using electron and ion beam techniques. Our observations provide quantitative information on the transformation from the crystalline to the amorphous state of silicon.