Experimental vibrational contributions to molecular hyperpolarisabilities: methods and measurements

Charting a course to efficient difference frequency generation in molecular-engineered liquid-core fiber

Although χ⁽²⁾ nonlinear optical processes, such as difference frequency generation (DFG), are often used in conjunction with fiber lasers for wavelength conversion and photon-pair generation, the monolithic fiber architecture is broken by the use of bulk crystals to access χ⁽²⁾. We propose a novel solution by employing quasi-phase matching (QPM) in molecular-engineered hydrogen-free, polar-liquid core fiber (LCF). Hydrogen-free molecules offer attractive transmission in certain NIR-MIR regions and polar molecules tend to align with an externally applied electrostatic field creating a macroscopic χ e f f(2). To further increase χ e f f(2) we investigate charge transfer (CT) molecules in solution. Using numerical modeling we investigate two bromotrichloromethane based mixtures and show that the LCF has reasonably high NIR-MIR transmission and large QPM DFG electrode period. The inclusion of CT molecules has the potential to yield χ e f f(2) at least as large as has been measured in silica fiber core. Numerical modeling for the degenerate DFG case indicates that signal amplification and generation through QPM DFG can achieve nearly 90% efficiency.

A multitechnique investigation of the second order NLO response of a 10,20-diphenylporphyrinato nickel(II) complex carrying a phenylethynyl based push-pull system in the 5- and 15-positions

A multitechnique investigation of the determination of the order of magnitude of the second and third order NLO response of [5-[(4-dimethylaminophenyl)ethynyl]-15-[(4-nitrophenyl)ethynyl]-10,20-diphenylporphyrinato]nickel(II) (1) is reported with the aim to produce self consistent evidence for a significant NLO response of this kind of push-pull porphyrin chromophore. The experimental multitechnique approach is based on the EFISH technique, working with a non-resonant incident wavelength of 1.907 μm, on the solvatochromic method and finally on a vibrational method, avoiding any fluorescence or resonance interference. A theoretical MNDO-TDHF evaluation of the zero-frequency quadratic and cubic hyperpolarizabilities of an ab initio optimized planar structure is also reported. The order of magnitude of the quadratic hyperpolarizability of (1) at zero frequency (β0), was found to be significantly lower than that reported for the corresponding Cu (II) or Zn (II) complexes with the same push-pull porphyrin chromophore.

Raman spectroscopy of polyconjugated molecules and materials: confinement effect in one and two dimensions

The effect of the confinement of pi electrons in one- and two-dimensional domains is illustrated with several examples ranging from linear polyene chains to planar molecules with honeycomb structure. Theoretical computations and specific Raman experiments on molecular materials demonstrate that a molecular approach provides a unified key to the interpretation of the Raman response both of linear polyconjugated polymers (polyacetylene) and of nanostructured graphitic materials.