Chalcones: Possible new materials for third-order nonlinear optics

Abstract

'Search for potential materials' for third-order nonlinear optics has been of continuing interest in recent years. In this context, organic molecules are increasingly being recognized as the materials of the future because their molecular nature combined with the versatility of synthetic chemistry can be used to alter and optimize molecular structure to maximize third order nonlinear response. Chalcones have received considerable interest as materials for second-order nonlinear optical applications due to their ability to crystallize in noncentrosymmetric structure and their blue light transmittance. Being charge transfer compounds, chalcones can also possess large thirdorder nonlinearities due to their π-conjugated structure. In this article, we discuss the structure-nonlinear response relationship among a few chalcones and the possibility of using them for third-order applications. A meager or no work, to our knowledge, has been done so far on these molecules in this regard. Z-scan and degenerate four-wave mixing techniques were employed to investigate third-order optical nonlinearities of chalcone derivatives. Some of these molecules possess large χ (3) of magnitude as high as 10-12 esu and exhibit strong optical limiting properties. Possible mechanisms that are responsible for optical limiting property of these molecules have been discussed. . © 2011 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.