SUM-FREQUENCY GENERATION FROM AN ISOTROPIC CHIRAL MEDIUM

We report a theoretical analysis of nonlinear optical sum-frequency ge neration from the bulk of a chiral liquid in the dipole approximation. In our theoretical formulation the circular birefringence effect of a chiral medium was properly taken into account. The angular dependence of the reflected and transmitted sum-frequency signals on the inciden t angles of two input beams was calculated to yield the optimal geomet ry for probing bulk chirality. We also derived a microscopic expressio n for the totally antisymmetric part of a second-order nonlinear optic al susceptibility to elaborate unique features in the studies of chira lity-related properties with sum-frequency generation. (C) 1998 Optica l Society of America.