An efficient organic crystal for nonlinear optics: methyl- (2,4-dinitrophenyl) -aminopropanoate

Abstract

The first member of a new family of materials for nonlinear optics, methyl- (2,4-dinitrophenyl) -amino-2 propanoate (MAP), has been prepared and its linear and nonlinear optical properties have been investigated. High nonlinear coefficients result from the favorable electronic properties of the MAP molecule, as well as its chirality, which ensures a noncentrosymmetrical crystal structure. This material is phase matchable over its entire transparency range, and its figure of merit d2/n3 for parametric interactions is 15 times larger than LiNbO3. The optical damage threshold is higher than 1 GW/cm2 for 10−8-sec pulses at 1.06 μm. The 30% second-harmonic conversion efficiency has been observed in a 1-mm-thick crystal. In addition, we present an extension of the analysis of Maker fringes to monoclinic crystals of point group 2.