Optimizing the second-order optical nonlinearities of organic molecules: asymmetric cyanines and highly polarized polyenes

Abstract

e recently reported that there is an optimal combination of donor and acceptor strengths for a given molecular length and bridge structure that maximizes (beta) . For this combination, there is the correct degree of bond length alternation and asymmetry in the molecule. Our recent findings suggest that molecules that can be viewed as asymmetric cyanines with relatively small amounts of bond length alternation are nearly optimal. In this manner, we have identified molecules with nonlinearities many times that of conventional chromophores for a given length. In this paper, we will present a new computational analysis that allows the correlation of bond length alternation with hyperpolarizabilities and will present EFISH data on simple donor-acceptor polyene chromophores.

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