Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
The optical second-harmonic (SH) response of a reverse biased gallium nitride (GaN) film was investigated for SH photon energies near the fundamental absorption edge. With the application of a DC electric field (∼ 100 to 220 kV/cm) along the optical axis of the sample, a strong two-photon resonance was observed in the specular reflected SH signal. This resonance was attributed to electric-field induced SH generation, EFISH, a third-order nonlinear response which arises from an induced polarization that is linearly dependent on the amplitude of the DC field. The EFISH contribution was spectrally localized at the bandedge, demonstrating the potential of SH spectroscopy for analysis of critical points in the band structure of semiconductors.