Enhanced second harmonic generation in all-optically poled polymer microcavities

Summary form only given. Little attention has been paid to nonlinear optical microcavities whereby a prerequisite for quadratic effects is an in-plane transverse non-centrosymmetric orientation of the active part. We therefore propose optical poling as a more suitable means to induce such a configuration to a dye-grafted polymer medium than the traditional electric field thermal poling. In the all-optical poling process molecules are excited by the interference of one- and two-photon resonant absorption pathways from mutually coherent strong fundamental and weaker harmonic beams. Subsequent reorientation leads to a permanent non-centrosymmetric order with a controllable tensorial symmetric pattern depending on the magnitude, polarization and phase of the beams.