Study of second optical harmonic generation in terahertz pulse-induced antiferromagnetic NiO

Abstract

Intense terahertz pulses and a process of second harmonic generation are promising methods for exciting and studying an ultrafast dynamic response in magnetically ordered systems, ferroelectrics, and multiferroics on the picosecond time scale. In the present work, we report experimental results on generation of second optical harmonic in centrosymmetric antiferromagnetic NiO induced by intense terahertz pulses with an electric field strength of up to 20 MV cm−1.