Resonant optical second-harmonic generation from mixed liquid crystal-stearic acid monolayers

Comparison of the linear and nonlinear optical response of mixed liquid crystal/stearic acid molecular monolayers is used to show that significant geometric and electronic structural information can be extracted from the optical second-harmonic (SH) response. The combination of SH intensity and phase measurements provides much more information than intensity studies on their own, and adds an important spectroscopic dimension to SHG from molecular monolayers.