Design and synthesis of ferroelectric liquid crystals. 15. ¹ FLC materials for nonlinear optics applications

Abstract

Abstract We have recently reported the first FLCs designed specifically for large second order nonlinear optical (NLO) susceptibility χ(2); a series of o-nitro-1-methylheptyloxy biphenylbenzoates and phenyl biphenylcarboxylates. Properties of a stable room-temperature C* mixture of two such components (1:1 W316/W317 = MX5679) are presented. The nonlinear susceptibility, as evidenced by the Type 1 eeo deff for second harmonic generation (SHG) from 1,064 nm light for MX5679 is indeed large relative to other FLCs which have been evaluated for χ(2) (deff (ZLI3654) = 0.0016 pm/V, deff (SCE9) = 0.0037 pm/V, deff (MX5679) = 0.16 pm/V). The synthesis and some properties of second-generation FLCs designed for NLO applications is also described.