The ferroelectric nematic phase: an optimum liquid crystal candidate for nonlinear optics

Materials that exhibit high nonlinear optical (NLO) susceptibilities are considered as promising candidates for a wide range of photonic and electronic applications. Here, we argue that the ferroelectric nematic (N-F) materials have sufficient potentialities to become materials for the next-generation of NLO devices. We have carried out a study of the efficiency of optical second-harmonic generation in a prototype N-F material, finding a nonlinear susceptibility of 5.6 pm.V-1 in the transparent regime, one of the highest ever reported in ferroelectric liquid crystals. Given the fact that the studied molecule was not specifically designed for NLO applications, we conclude there is still margin to obtain N-F materials with enhanced properties that should allow their practical use.