Abstract

The nonlinear optical properties of organic and polymeric materials is a subject currently under intensive study.¹ Over the past few years, extensive research¹ has shown that organic molecules having conjugated pi electron systems or low-lying charge transfer (CT) excited states often possess extremely large second-order polarizabilities. However, the enormous potential of these molecules often cannot be utilized because of unfavorable alignment in the crystalline phase. In the case of second harmonic generation, second-order susceptibility vanishes for centrosymmetric crystals. Many different approaches have been taken to counter this problem,¹ but an effective strategy that is generally applicable is still not available. We report here an example of using guest-host inclusion complexation to control bulk nonlinear optical properties.

© 1985 Optical Society of America