A second harmonic generation study of the ACuTe₂O₇ quasi-1D materials

Quasi-one-dimensional polar materials can potentially exhibit interesting properties such as pronounced non-linear optical responses and multiferroicity. The ACuTe₂O₇ (A = Ba/Sr) compounds are an intriguing platform owing to their quasi-one-dimensional structure, the presence of spin-½ copper moments, and the possibility to tune the system between polar and non-polar structures by changing the A-site cation. In this talk, I will present a comparative study of optical second harmonic generation from BaCuTe₂O₇, which is polar, and SrCuTe₂O₇, which is reportedly non-polar and centrosymmetric. The relationship between the SHG magnitude and the onset of magnetic correlations in these compounds will also be discussed.