Nonlinear optical properties of a one-dimensional coordination polymer

Abstract

Nonlinear optical materials with functions of generating second harmonic generation (SHG) or/and third harmonic generation (THG) have attracted great interest because of their applications in extending coherent light frequencies from the given lasers. Here we report on a one-dimensional coordination polymer, which is capable of generating SHG, THG, and multi-photon-excited photoluminescence (PL) depending on an excitation wavelength in the range from 800 nm to 1500 nm. The coordination polymer consists of two ligands, namely (1) benzoate and (2) trans,trans-9,10-bis(4-pyridylethenyl)anthracene (An2Py). The second order optical nonlinearity, d_eff, of the single crystal has been determined to be 6.4 pm V⁻¹, at 1200 nm, while the third nonlinear optical susceptibility, χ⁽³⁾, is measured to be ∼8 × 10⁻¹¹ esu at 1500 nm.