Second harmonic scattered light from a zinc-sulfide thin film

We present measurements of the second harmonic scattered light from a zinc- sulfide (ZnS) thin film produced by electron beam deposition (EBD). The ang ular distribution of the nonlinear scattered harmonic light presents narrow peaks. These peaks are shown to result from the nonlinear interaction of t he pump field with the guided modes at pump frequency excited by the roughn ess of the thin film. The angular locations of these peaks are independent of opto-geometrical properties of the film at second harmonic circular freq uency. This brings out the usefulness of nonlinear scattered light in probi ng the optical properties of thin films. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.