Molecular engineering of organic chromophores and polymers for enhanced bulk second-order optical nonlinearity

Second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) materials have been investigated for decades driven by the application requirements of electro-optic modulators for optical communication, optical switches, sensors, terahertz generation and detection. The prominent advantages of organic NLO materials are ultra-f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of materials chemistry. C, Materials for optical and electronic devices Materials for optical and electronic devices, 2017, Vol.5 (17), p.4111-4122
Main Authors: Li, Ming, Li, Yang, Zhang, Hui, Wang, Shiwei, Ao, Yuhui, Cui, Zhanchen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alignment
Chromophores
Modulators
Molecular structure
Nonlinearity
Optical switching
Optoelectronic devices
Polymers
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Summary:Second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) materials have been investigated for decades driven by the application requirements of electro-optic modulators for optical communication, optical switches, sensors, terahertz generation and detection. The prominent advantages of organic NLO materials are ultra-fast response and structural versatility, which gives the materials large NLO activity, good processability and other necessary properties for specific applications via suitable molecular engineering. In this review, historic and recent studies of organic dipolar chromophores in acentric alignment affording macroscopic anisotropy are overviewed. In particular, recent marked progress in the development of acentric bulky materials, including isolating chromophores to prevent centrosymmetric alignment, is focused on. We also review fascinating methods for the ordered alignment of chromophores, which include supramolecular interaction, light fields, electric fields and so on. It is hoped that better chromophore molecular structures and film construction techniques can be devised using suitable NLO films to achieve higher performances in optoelectronic devices. In this Review, we present the recent progress of getting the ordered alignment of chromophores for enhanced bulk second-order optical nonlinearity, which include supramolecular interaction, light fields, electric fields and so on.
ISSN:2050-7526
2050-7534
DOI:10.1039/c7tc00713b