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arXiv · 2509.11835

Ferroelectric Fluids for Nonlinear Photonics: Evaluation of Temperature Dependence of Second-Order Susceptibilities

Matija Lovšin·Luka Cmok·Calum J. Gibb·Jordan Hobbs·Richard J. Mandle·Alenka Mertelj·Irena Drevenšek-Olenik·Nerea Sebastian
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Abstract

Ferroelectric nematic fluids are promising materials for tunable nonlinear photonics, with applications ranging from second harmonic generation to sources of entangled photons. However, the few reported values of second-order susceptibilities vary widely depending on the molecular architecture. Here, we systematically measure second-order NLO susceptibilities of five different materials that exhibit the ferroelectric nematic phase, as well as the more recently discovered layered smectic A ferroelectric phase. The materials investigated include archetypal molecular architectures as well as mixtures showing room-temperature ferroelectric phases. The measured values, which range from 0.3 to 20 pm/V, are here reasonably predicted by combining calculations of molecular-level hyperpolarizabilities and a simple nematic potential, highlighting the opportunities of modelling-assisted design for enhanced NLO ferroelectric fluids.

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Matija Lovšin, Luka Cmok, Calum J. Gibb, Jordan Hobbs, Richard J. Mandle, Alenka Mertelj, Irena Drevenšek-Olenik, Nerea Sebastian. 2025-09-15. Ferroelectric Fluids for Nonlinear Photonics: Evaluation of Temperature Dependence of Second-Order Susceptibilities. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.11835

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