Influence of magnetism on second harmonic generation

Abstract

Optical second harmonic generation (SHG) in 75\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} reflection was studied on longitudinally magnetized PtMnSb(111) and magnetic circular dichroism was observed with SHG. For circularly polarized incident light of 532 nm it amounts to (7\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1)%. For linearly polarized incident radiation this leads to a nonlinear magneto-optical Kerr rotation of (14\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}2)\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}. The strong symmetry-breaking effect of the magnetization is demonstrated by a 90\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} turn of the SH polarization ellipse with regard to the linear polarization of the fundamental light.