Second- and Third-Harmonic Generation from Optically Trapped Liquid Crystal Droplet

Abstract
Optical trapping of micrometer-sized nematic and ferroelectric liquid crystal droplets in water was found to induce second- and third-harmonic generation. At high trapping laser power, an increase in the second-harmonic intensity over the predicted value was observed for both types of liquid crystal droplets. Size-dependent second-harmonic generation was found only for ferroelectric liquid crystal droplets. Possible interpretations of the nonlinear effect on liquid crystal droplets were discussed.