EFFECT OF POLING CONDITIONS ON 2ND-HARMONIC GENERATION IN FUSED-SILICA

A systematic study of the effects of poling time and applied voltage o n second-harmonic (SH) generation in thermally poled silica glass reve als that the SH signal is proportional to the square of the applied vo ltage and that the speed of the poling process increases with the appl ied voltage. Prior treatment of the samples is found to affect the pol ing process, and the optimum poling conditions are observed to depend on the poling atmosphere. The mechanism of thermal poling is discussed in the light of these new results. (C) 1996 Optical Society of Americ a