Calculations of nonlinear optical responses of isomorphous crystals NaClO3 and NaBrO3 with natural optical activity

This work considers the isomorphous optically active crystals NaClO3 and NaBrO3. The connection between their second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) responses and chemical bond structures is established, starting from the experimental optical activities. The calculation reproduces the well-known experimental fact that crystals of NaClO3 and NaBrO3 with similar structures have different signs of optical rotation and of second harmonic generation (SHG). Unlike previous bond charge models, the method may include more than one type of bond in the calculation, and therefore may be used to study the optical activity and nonlinear optical properties of more general crystals.