Second harmonic generation in a molecular magnetic chain

A setup for the determination of all the components of the second harmonic generation tensor in molecular materials is presented. It allows overcoming depletion problems, which one can expect to be common in molecular systems. A preliminary characterization of the nonlinear properties of the single chain magnet CoPhOMe is carried out. We observe a high second harmonic signal, comparable to that of urea, and show that the bulk contributions are dominant over the surface ones. (c) 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.