Nonlinear Optical Pigments. Two-Photon Absorption in Crosslinked Conjugated Polymers and Prospects for Remote Nonlinear Optical Thermometry

Nonlinear optical (NLO) pigments are compounds insoluble in solvents that exhibit phenomena related to nonlinear optical susceptibilities (χ(n) where n = 2,3,...), e.g., two-photon absorption (2PA) which is related to the imaginary part of χ(3). Determination of spectrally-resolved 2PA properties for NLO pigments of macromolecular nature, such as coordination polymers or crosslinked polymers, has long been a challenging issue due to their particulate form, precluding characterizations with standard techniques such as Z-scan. In this contribution, we investigate thus far unknown spectrally-resolved 2PA properties of a new subclass of NLO pigments-crosslinked conjugated polymers. The studied compounds are built up from electron-donating (triphenylamine) and electron-withdrawing (2,2'-bipyridine) structural fragments joined by vinylene (Pol1) or vinyl(4-ethynylphenyl) (Pol2) aromatic bridges. 2PA properties of these polymers have been characterized in broad spectral range by specially modified two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) techniques: solid state TPEF (SSTPEF) and internal standard TPEF (ISTPEF). The impact of self-aggregation of aromatic backbones on the 2PA properties of the polymers has been evaluated through extended comparisons of NLO parameters, i.e., 2PA cross sections (σ2) and molar-mass normalized 2PA merit factors (σ2/M) with those of small-molecular model compounds: Mod1 and Mod2. By doing this, we found that the 2PA response of Pol1 and Pol2 is improved 2-3 times versus respective model compounds in the solid state form. Further comparisons with 2PA results collected for diluted solutions of Mod1 and Mod2 supports the notion that self-aggregated structure contributes to the observed enhancement of 2PA response. On the other hand, it is clear that Pol1 and Pol2 suffer from aggregation-caused quenching phenomenon, well reflected in time-resolved fluorescence properties as well as in relatively low values of quantum yield of fluorescence. Accordingly, despite improved intrinsic 2PA response, the effective intensity of two-photon excited emission for Pol1 and Pol2 is slightly lower relative to Mod1 and Mod2. Finally, we explore temperature-resolved luminescence properties under one- (377 nm), two- (820 nm), and three-photon excitation (1020 nm) conditions of postsynthetically Eu3+-functionalized material, Pol1-Eu, and discuss its suitability for temperature sensing applications.

P. N, Keloth C, Wolcan E, D UK. Facile synthesis and exploration of excited state assisted two-photon absorption properties of D–A–D type thiophene–pyridine derivatives

Diagrammatic representation of excited state assisted two-photon absorption (2PA) behavior of a donor–acceptor type conjugated polymer (P2TPy) exhibiting an extremely low optical limiting threshold.

Laser-Induced Population Inversion in Rhodamine 6G for Lysozyme Oligomer Detection

Fluorescence spectroscopy is a common method for detecting amyloid fibrils in which organic fluorophores are used as markers that exhibit an increase in quantum yield upon binding. However, most of the dyes exhibit enhanced emission only when bound to mature fibrils, and significantly weaker signals are obtained in the presence of amyloid oligomers. In the concept of population inversion, a laser is used as an excitation source to keep the major fraction of molecules in the excited state to create the pathways for the occurrence of stimulated emission. In the case of the proteins, the conformational changes lead to the self-ordering and thus different light scattering conditions that can influence the optical signatures of the generated light. Using this methodology, we show it is possible to optically detect amyloid oligomers using commonly available staining dyes in which population inversion can be induced. The results indicate that rhodamine 6G molecules are complexed with oligomers, and using a laser-assisted methodology, weakly emissive states can be detected. Significant spectral red-shifting of rhodamine 6G dispersed with amyloid oligomers and a notable difference determined by comparison of spectra of the fibrils suggest the existence of specific dye aggregates around the oligomer binding sites. This approach can provide new insights into intermediate oligomer states that are believed to be responsible for toxic seeding in neurodegeneration diseases.