Second-harmonic generation in multilayer hexagonal boron nitride flakes

In this Letter, we report the second-harmonic generation (SHG) from thick hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) flakes with approximately 109–111 layers. The resulting effective second-order susceptibility is similar to previously reported few-layer experiments. This confirms that thick hBN flakes can serve as a platform for nonlinear optics, which is useful because thick flakes are easy to exfoliate while retaining a large size. We also show spatial second-harmonic maps revealing that SHG remains a useful tool for the characterization of the layer structure, even in the case of a large number of layers.