Simulating the Influence of Birefringence for CentrosymmetricPoint Groups using Rotational Anisotropy Second HarmonicGeneration (RA-SHG)

Birefringence is an optical property of crystals with a refractive index that varies with the polarization and propagation direction of light. A crystal's birefringence is determined by its anisotropic and symmetric properties, and by utilizing rotational anisotropy second harmonic generation (RA-SHG) the symmetry information of crystals that incident light interacts with can be observed. This results in outgoing radiation that is highly dependent on the symmetry properties of the crystal. By using RA-SHG we can simulate nonlinear induced polarization for higher-rank multipolar densities in crystals at a given distance from the sample's surface. This project focuses on developing an interactive interface that allows for the manipulation of the simulated RA-SHG process for birefringent centrosymmetric (inversely symmetric) point groups. In the future, this program can be expanded to magnetic symmetry groups undergoing additional physical transformations. This project was developed in part in collaboration with Dr. Liuyan Zhao of the University of Michigan.