Nick Van Steerteghem

Organoimido-Polyoxometalate Nonlinear Optical Chromophores: A Structural, Spectroscopic, and Computational Study

Ten organoimido polyoxometalate (POM)-based chromophores have been synthesized and studied by hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS), Stark and Resonance Raman spectroscopies, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. HRS β0 values for chromophores with resonance electron donors are significant (up to 139 × 10-30 esu, ∼5 times greater than that of the DAS+ cation), but systems with no donor, or the -NO2 acceptor show no activity, in some cases, despite large DFT-predicted β-values. In active systems with short (phenyl) π-bridges, β0 values comfortably exceed that of the purely organic structural analogue N,N-dimethyl-4-nitroaniline (DMPNA), and intrinsic β-values, β0/N3/2 (where N is the number of bridge π-electrons) thus appear to break empirical performance limits (β0/N3/2 vs λmax) for planar organic systems. However, β0 values obtained for extended systems with a diphenylacetylene bridge are comparable to or lower than that of their nitro analogue, N,N-dimethyl-4-[(4-nitrophenyl)ethynyl]-aniline (DMNPEA). Resonance Raman spectroscopy confirms the involvement of the POM in the electronic transitions, whether donor groups are present or not, but Stark spectroscopy indicates that, in their absence, the transitions have little dipolar character (hence, NLO inactive), consistent with DFT-calculated frontier orbitals, which extend over both POM and organic group. Stark and DFT also suggest that β is enhanced in the short compounds because the extension of charge transfer (CT) onto the POM increases changes in the excited-state dipole moment. With extended π-systems, this effect does not increase CT distances, relative to a -NO2 acceptor, so β0 values do not exceed that of DMNPEA. Overall, our results show that (i) the organoimido-POM unit is an efficient acceptor for second-order NLO, but an ineffective donor; (ii) the nature of electronic transitions in arylimido-POMs is strongly influenced by the substituents of the aryl group; and (iii) organoimido-POMs outperform organic acceptors with short π-bridges, but lose their advantage with extended π-conjugation.

Third-Harmonic Scattering for Fast and Sensitive Screening of the Second Hyperpolarizability in Solution

Organic materials are promising candidates for integration in optical network components allowing fast communication. Ultimate speeds can be obtained by exploiting third-order nonlinear optical light-matter interactions that ultimately rely on the molecular second hyperpolarizability (γ). The exploration of molecular structure-property relations is crucial to optimize γ but requires state of the art measurement techniques which are both sensitive and efficient. Unfortunately, present-day methods for probing the performance of third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) materials fail to meet at least one of those requirements. We have developed third-harmonic scattering (THS) as an alternative method to measure γ in solution, featuring a simple experimental setup and straightforward data analysis. Since the signal strength relies on |γ|2, the method proves to be very sensitive and allows rapid screening of organic molecules in dilute solutions for potential use in third-order NLO applications. In this manuscript, we demonstrate the experimental procedure and calibration of THS and have determined the second hyperpolarizability |γ| of commonly used solvents, which can be used as an internal calibration standard. As a proof of concept we determined γ of trans-stilbene and found it to be in excellent agreement with values obtained by other techniques.

Multifunctional geometrical isomers of ferrocene-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]difuran-2,6-(3H,7H)-dione adducts: second-order nonlinear optical behaviour and charge transport in thin film OFET devices

Geometrical isomers of a set of new ferrocene-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]difuran-2,6-(3H,7H)-dione dyads were synthesized and their optical, nonlinear optical (NLO) and electrochemical properties were investigated. The compounds were fully characterized by spectroscopic data and single crystal X-ray analysis in few cases. The second-order nonlinear polarizabilities were measured in chloroform using a femtosecond hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS) method at 1300 nm. The dyads exhibit structure-dependent NLO properties, which could be rationalized by correlation with electrochemical and theoretical data. The (Z)-6 chromophore recorded higher βHRS values than the corresponding (E)-6 isomer, in the donor–acceptor (D–A) type dyads. Similarly, in D–A–D chromophore 7, the βHRS values of isomers follow the order (Z,Z) > (E,Z) > (E,E), which matches with the trend of the wavelength of their maximum absorption as well as an increasing band gap in that order. Owing to the inbuilt structural features, two of these D–A compounds were also explored as semiconducting materials in vacuum deposited top contact bottom gated thin film organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). Defying steric restrictions of the ferrocene unit, the triad (Z,Z)-7 depicted an unbalanced (μe: 3 × 10−3 cm−2 V−1 s−1 and μh: 7 × 10−5 cm−2 V−1 s−1) charge transport behaviour. Evaluation of the isomers of the type studied in this investigation constitutes one of very few reports, in particular this study reveals for the first time the semiconducting behaviour of thermally stable redox active Fc based semiconductors.

Synthesis, characterization and second-order nonlinear optical behaviour of ferrocene–diketopyrrolopyrrole dyads: the effect of alkene vs. alkyne linkers

New, thermally stable dipolar ferrocene–diketopyrrolopyrrole (Fc–DPP) dyads with alkene as a linker exhibited structure dependent first hyperpolarizabilities, βHRS, recorded by a femtosecond HRS technique using a femtosecond (120 fs) pulsed laser light system at 900 nm at ambient temperature. On the basis of linear optical, electrochemical and TD-DFT studies, a good structure–polarization relationship has been established to account for the observed trends in first hyperpolarizabilities. The dyads exhibited fluctuating but matching solvatochromism. Nonlinear optical properties are modulated both by the strength of the acceptor as well as the length and nature of the π-conjugation bridge. βHRS of the dyads were compared with structurally related dyads in which the DPP core and the Fc donor are linked via an alkyne bridge. It is interesting to observe that the replacement of an alkyne link with alkene in these D–π–A chromophores does not necessarily furnish enhanced βHRS.

Investigation of the second hyperpolarizability of Ru-alkynyl complexes by z-scan and nonlinear scattering

Present-day methods for determining the performance of third-order nonlinear optical materials include Z-scan, degenerate four-wave mixing and third-harmonic generation (THG). All these techniques possess severe drawbacks; for example, in THG, since all media (air and glass walls of the cell) present a third-order effect, eliminating these contributions requires careful, complex analysis or use of vacuum chambers. We have developed nonlinear scattering as a sensitive, straightforward technique for determining the second hyperpolarizability of samples in solution. Herein, we will for the first time show the applicability of the technique to measure organometallic Ru-complexes, optimized for high nonlinear responses. The investigated compounds showed a significant second hyperpolarizability |γ|, ranging from 1.1 for the least efficient to 2.8 ∙ 10-33 esu for the most efficient molecule, and comparable to fullerene C60 in thin films. It was deemed infeasible to extract hyperpolarizabilities using a high-frequency femtosecond laser source by a modified z-scan setup, which, in contrast to nonlinear scattering, could not account for the high degree of thermal lensing present in the investigated compounds.

Unexpected High Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Activity of Metal Complexes with Three-Branched Hexadentate 2,2′-Bipyridine Ligands

Two hexadentate bipyridine ligands and their RuII and NiII complexes were prepared. The helical alignment of the three electron-donor-π-bridge-electron-acceptor (d-π-A) single-strands with bundle architecture in cooperation with the metal center can strongly enhance the nonlinear optical (NLO) properties. The complexation of the novel cage-type hexadentate ligands with a paramagnetic NiII -core almost doubles the βHRS values compared with the corresponding diamagnetic RuII complexes. The hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS) was performed with a highly sensitive setup for simultaneous discrimination between multi-photon fluorescence and the molecular first hyperpolarizability.

Acoustic effects on nonlinear optical processes

We studied the effects of two types of ultrasonic waves, shear waves and longitudinal waves, using two nonlinear optical techniques, second-harmonic generation and hyper-Rayleigh scattering. Since shear waves hardly propagate in liquids, their influence on molecules at the interface between a surface and a liquid was studied using second-harmonic generation. Longitudinal waves propagate easily in solution, thus we used hyper-Rayleigh scattering to probe the ultrasonic effects on chromophores in solution. While we did not find shear waves to alter the second-harmonic generation from chromophores at the liquid/surface interface, the longitudinal waves caused effects comparable to our earlier observations. Longitudinal ultrasound caused a strong intensity modulation of the nonlinear optical signal according to a wave-pattern.