Superior characteristics of organic chalcone single crystals as efficient nonlinear optical material

Abstract

High-quality biaxial single crystals of chalcone derivatives were grown by solution growth technique. Their molecular structures were designed to possess large second-order nonlinearities by choosing proper donor/acceptor groups while retaining a high transparency in the visible and infrared spectral regions. The second-order nonlinear optical coefficients, determined by applying the Maker fringe technique, were found to be much larger than those of LiB(3)O(5), KTiOPO(4), KH(2)PO(4), and urea. The advantages, such as easy synthesis and crystal growth, low cutoff wavelength (< 450 nm), large optical nonlinearity, and high damage threshold (>7.2 GW/cm(2)), make these organic crystals promising for efficient frequency doubling. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics