Second-Harmonic Young's Interference in Atom-Thin Heterocrystals.

Kim, Wontaek; Ahn, Je Yhoung; Oh, Juseung; Shim, Ji Hoon; Ryu, Sunmin · Nano Lett · 2020

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

Second-harmonic generation (SHG) is a nonlinear optical process that converts two identical photons into a new one with doubled frequency. Two-dimensional semiconductors represented by transition-metal dichalcogenides are highly efficient SHG media because of their excitonic resonances. Using spectral phase interferometry, here we directly show that SHG in heterobilayers of MoS<sub>2</sub> and WS<sub>2</sub> is governed by optical interference between two coherent SH fields that are phase-delayed differently in each material. We also quantified the frequency-dependent phase difference between the two, which agreed with polarization-resolved data and first-principles calculations on complex susceptibility. The second-harmonic analogue of Young's double-slit interference shown in this work demonstrates the potential of custom-designed parametric generation by atom-thick nonlinear optical materials.