Thermal effects on second-harmonic generation in biaxial molecular crystals

The theory required for description of the effect of the temperature rise t hat is due to self-induced heating on second-harmonic generation is develop ed and applied to the biaxial molecular crystal (-)2-alpha-(methylbenzylami no)-5-nitropyridine (MBANP). It is shown that for the range of parameters c onsidered there is an optimum input power of the fundamental beam for highe st second-harmonic conversion efficiency. A maximum efficiency of 61% was c alculated for the optimum input power of 19.6 kW with a beam radius of 0.25 mm and an interaction length of 1.6 cm. (C) 1999 Optical Society of Americ a [S0740-3224(99)00510-X].