title: Second-harmonic generation in a bent-core nematic liquid crystal.
abstract: Second-harmonic generation (SHG) is studied in the magnetically aligned nematic phase of a bent-core liquid crystal (BCN) and compared to similar measurements made on a conventional rodlike (calamitic) nematic compound. The second-harmonic (SH) light detected from both materials is predominantly due to scattering and therefore incoherent. Results on the calamitic are consistent with a polarization induced by ordinary director fluctuations in the nematic phase. However, the SH scattering collected in the BCN exhibits a different temperature and angular dependence. We discuss how these differences could arise from the effects of short-range correlated, smectic-C-type molecular clusters, which have been detected in recent studies on various BCN materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA.
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Twieg
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jákli
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gleeson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sprunt
authors.forename: Brett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ellman