Non-Linear Optical (NLO) Materials

Sigma-Aldrich^® offers a wide range of organic NLO materials, including chromophors, intermediates, NLO monomers and NLO polymers. Organic NLO materials are often superior to inorganics in terms of their response speed, optical clarity, and the magnitude of their third-order susceptibility.^1-3 For a material to exhibit NLO activity it should be noncentrosymmetric. In polymer-based NLO materials, the NLO chromophore can be incorporated into a polymer matrix either as a guest (in a host-guest-system), or as an integral component covalently grafted to polymer chain, or even co-polymerized into the polymer backbone itself. Covalent incorporation can markedly improve stability of the NLO chromophors in applications.^4,5

References
1. Tripathy, S. et al. Chemtech, 19, 620 (1989)
2. Tripathy, S. et al. Chemtech, 19, 747 (1989)
3. Chang, T.Y. Optical Engineering, 20, 220 (1981)
4. Prasad, P.; Williams, D. Introduction to Nonlinear Optical Effects in Molecules & Polymers, Jon Wiley & Sons (1991)
5. Nonlinear Optics of Organic Molecules and Polymers, Nalwa, H.S.; Miyata, S., Eds. American Scientific Publishers (1996) (Aldrich Prod. No. Z552224)