Abstract

There is much current interest in the third-order nonlinear-optical susceptibilities χ⁽³⁾ of families of synthetic compounds, generally occurring as polymeric materials or thin films. In this paper we report measurements of χ³ for a series of organic and organometallic poly-yne compounds (the latter incorporating the transition metals Ni, Pd, and Pt), which are monomeric analogs of polymers¹ that have already shown potential in the fabrication of optoelectronic devices. The compounds studied here are soluble in a solvent such as tetrahydrofuran (THF), so they can readily be examined as solutes in solution over a range of concentrations to avoid the complexities of deposition methodology and susceptibility to optical damage often associated with thin-film samples.

© 1991 Optical Society of America