Anisotropic Second-Harmonic Generation Induced by Reduction of In-Plane Symmetry in 2D Materials with Strain Engineering

Strain engineering is an attractive method to induce and control anisotropy for polarized optoelectronic applications with two-dimensional (2D) materials. Herein, we have investigated the nonlinear optical coefficient dispersion relationship and the second-harmonic generation (SHG) pattern evolution under the uniaxial strains for graphene, WS2, GaSe, and In2Se3 monolayers. The uniaxial strain can break the in-plane symmetry of 2D materials, leading to both trade-off breaking of the nonlinear coefficient and new emergent nonlinear coefficients. In such a case, a classical sixfold ϕ-dependent SHG pattern is transformed into a distorted sixfold SHG pattern under the strain. Due to the lattice symmetry breaking and the uneven charge density distribution in strained 2D materials, the SHG patterns also depend on the excitation photon energy. The results could give a guide for the SHG pattern analysis in experiments, suggesting strain engineering on 2D materials for the tunable anisotropy in polarized and flexible nonlinear optical devices.