The influence of different donor/acceptor matches on chromophore's nonlinear optical activity

In this work, a series of novel second order nonlinear optical chromophores modified by heteroatom-groups in electron-donor has been synthesized and systematically investigated. The resulting nonlinear optical chromophores exhibited both good thermal stability and good solubility in common organic solvents. UV-Vis spectra and density functional theory calculations were carried out to investigate the influence of heteroatom-groups on the electro-optic activities. The results revealed that increasing the electron-donor strength will not always improve the nonlinear optical activity of chromophore. There is a best match for electron-donor and acceptor. As to electro-optic activities, the doped polymer film-d3 displayed the highest electro-optic coefficient value of 37 pm/v at the doping concentration of 25 wt%. These results indicated that the nonlinear optical activities could be enhanced by finding the best match for electron-donor and acceptor in chromophore design. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.