Second-harmonic generation from nonlocal interaction between terahertz waves and step quantum wells

Second-harmonic generation (SHG) excited by a p-polarized terahertz wave interacting with AlGaAs/GaAs step quantum wells (STQW’s) is investigated on the basis of the microscopic nonlocal response theory. The numerical results show that there are two resonant peaks in the energy reflection spectrum of the SHG, whose position and amplitude are tunable via the structural parameters of the STQW’s and the incident optical intensity. It is clarified that the spatial nonlocality of the linear and second-order nonlinear optical responses can lead to a blueshift of the second-harmonic spectra, while the third-order nonlinearity can induce a spectral redshift. Furthermore, an optimal STQW is presented, for obtaining the largest SHG signal and observing the SH spectra by experiment.