Tuning the nonlinear optical properties of BODIPYs by functionalization with dimethylaminostyryl substituents

Two difluoroboradiazaindacene (BODIPY) scaffolds with attached dimethylaminostyryl substituents were synthesized. Guest-host polymeric films were produced by incorporating these chromophores into polymethylmethacrylate matrices. The second and third nonlinear optical properties of the resulting polymer composites were studied by means of the Maker fringe technique using a laser generating at 1064 nm with a 30 ps pulse duration. The macroscopic and microscopic nonlinearities were found to be comparatively high and dependent on the number of dimethylaminostyryl substituents attached to BODIPY core. The development of integrated optics makes such nonlinear films of particular interest, since they can be used in the creation of efficient nonlinear devices. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.