Ln2(SeO3)2(SO4)(H2O)2 (Ln=Sm, Dy, Yb): A Mixed-Ligand Pathway to New Lanthanide(III) Multifunctional Materials Featuring Nonlinear Optical and Magnetic Anisotropy Properties

Bottom-up assembly of optically nonlinear and magnetically anisotropic lanthanide materials involving precisely placed spin carriers and optimized metal-ligand coordination offers a potential route to developing electronic architectures for coherent radiation generation and spin-based technologies, but the chemical design historically has been extremely hard to achieve. To address this, we developed a worthwhile avenue for creating new noncentrosymmetric chiral Ln(3+) materials Ln(2)(SeO3)(2)(SO4)(H2O)(2) (Ln=Sm, Dy, Yb) by mixed-ligand design. The materials exhibit phase-matching nonlinear optical responses, elucidating the feasibility of the heteroanionic strategy. Ln(2)(SeO3)(2)(SO4)(H2O)(2) displays paramagnetic property with strong magnetic anisotropy facilitated by large spin-orbit coupling. This study demonstrates a new chemical pathway for creating previously unknown polar chiral magnets with multiple functionalities.

Automated summary

By using mixed-ligand design, we have developed a new chemical pathway for creating lanthanide materials with noncentrosymmetric chiral properties and multiple functionalities, exhibiting excellent performance in terms of optical nonlinearity and magnetic anisotropy.