Plastic Transition to Switch Nonlinear Optical Properties Showing the Record High Contrast in a Single-Component Molecular Crystal
详细信息 查看全文
- 作者：Zhihua Sun ; Tianliang Chen ; Xitao Liu ; Maochun Hong ; Junhua Luo
- 刊名：Journal of the American Chemical Society
- 出版年：2015
- 出版时间：December 23, 2015
- 年：2015
- 卷：137
- 期：50
- 页码：15660-15663
- 全文大小：307K
- ISSN：1520-5126
文摘
To switch bulk nonlinear optical (NLO) effects represents an exciting new branch of NLO material science, whereas it remains a great challenge to achieve high contrast for “on/off” of quadratic NLO effects in crystalline materials. Here, we report the supereminent NLO-switching behaviors of a single-component plastic crystal, 2-(hydroxymethyl)-2-nitro-1,3-propanediol (1), which shows a record high contrast of at least ～150, exceeding all the known crystalline switches. Such a breakthrough is clearly elucidated from the slowing down of highly isotropic molecular motions during plastic-to-rigid transition. The deep understanding of its intrinsic plasticity and superior NLO property allows the construction of a feasible switching mechanism. As a unique class of substances with short-range disorder embedded in long-range ordered crystalline lattice, plastic crystals enable response to external stimuli and fulfill specific photoelectric functions, which open a newly conceptual avenue for the designing of new functional materials.