Second-order nonlinearities of lead borate glasses poled with different electrodes

Abstract The second-order nonlinearities in thermally poled lead borate glasses were studied. After poling with different electrodes, both bulk and near surface second-order nonlinearities were obtained. The second harmonic generation signal from near surface effect was two orders of magnitude larger than the bulk effect. By simulating the poling process with a multiple carrier model, we concluded that the bulk second-order nonlinearity was caused by the deficiency of Pb2+ in a thick layer after poling, and the near surface second-order nonlinearity was caused by the depletion of H+ in a thin layer when H+ injection from the atmosphere was blocked.