Publication
Title
Asymmetric dyes align inside carbon nanotubes to yield a large nonlinear optical response
Author
Abstract
Asymmetric dye molecules have unusual optical and electronic properties(1-3). For instance, they show a strong second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) response that has attracted great interest for potential applications in electro-optic modulators for optical telecommunications and in wavelength conversion of lasers(2,3). However, the strong Coulombic interaction between the large dipole moments of these molecules favours a pairwise antiparallel alignment that cancels out the NLO response when incorporated into bulk materials. Here, we show that by including an elongated dipolar dye (p,p'-dimethylaminonitrostilbene, DANS, a prototypical asymmetric dye with a strong NLO response(4)) inside single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs)(5,6), an ideal head-to-tail alignment in which all electric dipoles point in the same sense is naturally created. We have applied this concept to synthesize solution-processible DANS-filled SWCNTs that show an extremely large total dipole moment and static hyperpolarizability (beta(o) = 9,800 x 10(-30) e.s.u.), resulting from the coherent alignment of arrays of similar to 70 DANS molecules.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Nature nanotechnology
Publication
2015
ISSN
1748-3387
1748-3395
DOI
10.1038/NNANO.2015.1
Volume/pages
10 :3 (2015) , p. 248-252
ISI
000350799700016
Pubmed ID
25643253
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Separation and high-resolution spectroscopic characterisation of carbon nanotubes and nanocomposites.
Separation, sorting and enhanced optical properties of intact carbon nanotubes and their composites.
Imaging and advanced spectroscopy of individual carbon nanotubes by IR fluorescence microscopy.
Selective linear and nonlinear optical spectroscopy of carbon nanotubes and their interactions with organic molecules.
High throughput, high performance second order light scattering spectroscopy.
Static and Dynamic Investigation of Large Second-Order Optical Nonlinearity Induced by Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking.
Fully Automated Frequency Agile Characterisation of Organic Nonlinear Optical Materials
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 12.05.2015
Last edited 02.10.2024
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