Microscopic Theory of Nonlinear Optics

In this chapter we give an introduction to the theory of linear and nonlinear optics. We show how the response of a molecule to an external oscillating electric field can be described in terms of intrinsic properties of the molecules, namely the (hyper)polarizabilities. We outline how these properties are described in the case of exact states by considering the time-development of the exact state in the presence of a time-dependent electric field. Approximations introduced in theoretical studies of nonlinear optical properties are introduced, in particular the separation of electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom which gives rise to the partitioning of the (hyper)polarizabilities into electronic and vibrational contributions. Different approaches for calculating (hyper)polarizabilities are discussed, with a special focus on the electronic contributions in most cases. We end with a brief discussion of the connection between the microscopic responses of an individual molecule to the experimentally observed responses from a molecular ensemble