Abstract The time growth of the electromagnetic field at the fundamental and double frequencies is studied from the very onset of the second harmonic generation (SHG) process for a set of dipoles lacking a symmetry centre and exhibiting a nonresonant coupling with a classical electromagnetic field. This approach consists first of solving the Schrodinger equation by applying a generalised Rabi rotation to the Hamiltonian describing the light–dipole interaction. This rotation has been devised for the resulting Hamiltonian to show up time-independent for both components of the electromagnetic field at the fundamental frequency and the second harmonic one. Then an energy conservation argument, derived from the Poynting theorem, is introduced to work out an additional relationship between the electromagnetic field and its associated electric polarisation. Finally this analysis yields the full time behaviour of all physical quantities of interest. The calculated results reproduce accurately both the observed spatial oscillations of the SHG intensity (Maker's fringes) and its power law dependence on the intensity of the incoming light at the fundamental frequency.