Ar–ArF Self-Assembly of Star-Shaped Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Chromophores Achieving Large Macroscopic Nonlinearities

Abstract

In this communication, a new series of multibranched second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophores T1–T3 are prepared using triphenylamine moiety as the core to link different number of pentafluorobenzene groups modified chromophores. Upon increasing the number of branched chromophore arms attached to the triphenylamine core, the NLO coefficients (d33) can be significantly improved accordingly, due to an integrated effect of enhanced site isolation and Ar–ArF self-assembly. As a result, the star-shaped T3 consisting of three-branched chromophore arms realizes an impressive d33 value, up to 191.8 pm V−1, making it an excellent potential material candidate for second-order NLO applications.