%0 Journal Article %K Wavelength %K Nonlinear optical properties (NLO) %K Spectroscopic ellipsometry %K Harmonic generation %K Bismuth compounds %K Antiferromagnetic materials %K Refractive index %K Nonlinear optical coefficients %A A Kumar %A R.C Rai %A N.J Podraza %A S Denev %A M Ramirez %A Y.-H Chu %A L.W Martin %A J Ihlefeld %A T Heeg %A J Schubert %A D.G Schlom %A J Orenstein %A Ramamoorthy Ramesh %A R.W Collins %A J.L Musfeldt %A V Gopalan %B Applied Physics Letters %D 2008 %G eng %R 10.1063/1.2901168 %T Linear and nonlinear optical properties of BiFeO3 %V 92 %X Using spectroscopic ellipsometry, the room temperature refractive index and absorption versus wavelength of the ferroelectric antiferromagnet bismuth ferrite, BiFe O3, are reported. The material has a direct band gap at 442 nm wavelength (2.81 eV). Using optical second harmonic generation, the nonlinear optical coefficients were determined to be d15 d22 =0.20±0.01, d31 d22 =0.35±0.02, d33 d22 =-11.4±0.20, and ∫ d22 ∫ =298.4±6.1 pmV at a fundamental wavelength of 800 nm. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.