Abstract

Organic nonlinear optical (ONLO) chromophores are used to make electro-optic devices. Traditional ONLO chromophores use a $\pi$-conjugated bridge to couple the electron acceptor and donor moieties. We have explored whether other types of conjugation can be used to make high-performance ONLO chromophores. We have found that cross-conjugated bridge structures, when other parameters are kept the same, can exhibit comparable hyperpolarizabilities. Experimental hyperpolarizabilities of prototypical cross-conjugated chromophores, measured by hyper-Raleigh scattering, are comparable with their $\pi$-conjugated analogues, in contrast with the prediction of several electronic structure calculation methods. This opens new synthetic routes to other types of chromophores, which may provide enhanced performance.

© 2016 Optical Society of America

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