By combination of Nb(5+) (having a d(0) electronic configuration) and the lone-pair-containing iodate anion, a new SHG material, BaNbO(IO(3))(5), has been prepared. It exhibits a very large SHG response (approximately 14 times that of KH(2)PO(4) and approximately 660 times that of alpha-SiO(2)) and is phase-matchable. The material has high thermal stability and a wide transparent region.

Exploration on the compounds in the selenite-borate system led to the discovery of a new second-order NLO material, Se2B2O7, with a SHG efficiency of about 2.2 times that of KDP (KH2PO4). Its structure features a 3D network with helical tunnels, and it is transparent in the UV and visible region. The compound is a wide band gap semiconductor.

A new SHG material, namely, Pb2(BO3)(NO3), which contains parallel π-conjugated nitrate and borate anions, was obtained through a facile hydrothermal reaction by using Pb(NO3)2 and Mg(BO2)2⋅H2O as starting materials. Its structure contains honeycomb [Pb2(BO3)]∞ layers with noncoordination [NO3](-) anions located at the interlayer space. Pb2(BO3)(NO3) shows a remarkable strong SHG response of approximately 9.0 times that of potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) and the material is also phase-matchable. The large SHG coefficient of Pb2(BO3)(NO3) arises from the synergistic effect of the stereoactive lone pairs on Pb(2+) cations and parallel alignment of π-conjugated BO3 and NO3 units. Based on its unique properties, Pb2(BO3)(NO3) may have great potential as a high performance NLO material in photonic applications.

The first bismuth selenite fluoride, BiFSeO3, was obtained by aliovalent substitution of 2D BiOIO3. Its structure features a 3D network composed of 1D [BiF](2+) chains interconnected by SeO3 groups. BiFSeO3 exhibits a very strong second harmonic generation (SHG) effect of about 13.5 times that of KH2PO4 (KDP) under 1064 nm laser radiation and 1.1 times that of KTiOPO4 (KTP) under 2.05 μm laser radiation, which is the highest among all of the metal selenites reported. It has also very simple chemical composition and can be synthesized easily under mild hydrothermal conditions.

Metrics & MoreArticle RecommendationsCONSPECTUS: Second-harmonic-generation (SHG) causes the frequency doubling of light, which is very useful for generating high-energy lasers with specific wavelengths. Noncentrosymmetry (NCS) is the first requirement for an SHG process because the SHG coefficient is zero (χ 2 = 0) in all centrosymmetric structures. At this stage, developing novel NCS crystals is a crucial scientific topic. Assembling polar units in an addictive fashion can facilely form NCS crystals with outstanding SHG performance. In this way, our group has obtained many different NCS crystals with extremely large SHG intensities (>5 × KDP or 1 × KTP). In this Account, we first provide a brief review of the development of SHG materials and concisely highlight the features of the excellent SHG materials. Then, we present four facile and rational molecular design strategies: (1) Traditional BO 3 3− -based crystals feature short absorption edges but usually suffer from relatively weak SHG performance (<5 × KDP). The combination of two types of pure π-conjugated anions (BO 3 3− and NO 3 − ) in a parallel fashion in the same compound has afforded a metal borate nitrate with a strong SHG effect. (2) To overcome the problems of the weak SHG effect and small birefringence in the less anisotropic QO 4 -based compounds, highly polarizable cations such as Hg 2+ and Bi 3+ are introduced into these systems, which greatly enhances both SHG effects and birefringence. (3) Iodate anions can be condensed into polynuclear iodate anions with a higher density of I 5+ per unit cell, hence polyiodate anions can serve as excellent SHG-active groups. We developed a novel synthesis method for hydrothermal reactions under a phosphoric acid medium and obtained a series of metal polyiodates with strong SHG effects. In addition, as the number of iodate groups increases, the structural configuration of the polyiodate anion changes from linear to bent. (4) We introduce the concept of aliovalent substitution which features site-to-site atomic displacement at the structural level. Such aliovalent substitution led to new materials that have the same chemical stoichiometries or structural features as their parent compounds. Thus, aliovalent substitution can provide more experimental opportunities and afford new high-performance SHG materials. The introduction of a fluoride anion and the replacement of metal cations in the MO 6 octahedron can result in new metal iodates with balanced properties including a large SHG effect, a wide band gap, and a high laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) value. Finally, we briefly discuss several problems associated with the studies of SHG materials and give some prospects for SHG materials in the future.

The photodissociation of formic acid has been studied experimentally and theoretically. Ab initio calculations were performed to study the dissociative profiles of five reaction channels on the S 0 , S 1 , and T 1 potential energy surfaces. The vibrationally excited nascent products were detected using a time-resolved Fourier transform infrared spectrometer after laser photolysis at 248 or 193 nm. In the 248 nm photolysis, the HCOOH molecule was first excited to the S 1 state, but it was found that the dissociation takes place on the S 0 surface after internal conversion. The products of the vibrationally excited CO, CO 2 (v 3) and H 2 O(v 1) were detected. During the dissociation process the vibrationally energized molecule is geometrically memorized and dynamically controlled, with the yield preference of CO and H 2 O over that of CO 2 and H 2. The ratio of CO(vу1)/CO 2 (v у1) is estimated as Ͻ7.5. Vibrationally excited CO (v) and CO 2 (v 3) are also found in the 193 nm photolysis but the CO/CO 2 ratio increases to 11. Most of the dissociation is thought to occur on the S 0 state. At this wavelength another dissociation channel which produces OH and HCO radicals on S 1 surface has been identified. The dissociation is unlikely to occur on the T 1 surface, as the energy barriers are fairly high.

Metal selenites and tellurites are a class of very important compounds. In this paper, the structures and properties of metal selenites or tellurites combining with transition-metal (TM) ions with the d (0) electronic configuration or tetrahedral MO 4 building blocks of post-transition main-group elements were reviewed. Most compounds in the alkali or alkaline-earth-d (0) TM-Se (IV) (or Te (IV))-O systems exhibit extended anionic architectures composed of distorted octahedra of (d (0)) TM cations and tellurite or selenite groups. The distortion of the octahedron is always away from the lone-pair cation, and some of them exhibit excellent second-order nonlinear optical properties due to the adductive effects of two types of bond polarizations. Because of the high coordination number of Ln (III) ions, most of compounds in the Ln-d (0) TM-Se (IV) (or Te (IV))-O systems are not second-harmonic-generation active; however, they are able to emit strong luminescence in the visible or near-IR region; also in most cases, the d (0) TM cations are in tetrahedral geometry and are well separated from selenite or tellurite groups. It is also interesting to note that the selenite group is normally "isolated", whereas the TeO x ( x = 3-5) can be polymerized into a variety of discrete polynuclear anionic clusters or extended architectures via Te-O-Te bridges.

A new alkali-metal borogermanate with noncentrosymmetric structure, namely, Cs2GeB4O9, has been discovered, and a large crystal with dimensions of 20 × 16 × 8 mm(3) has been grown by a high-temperature top-seeded solution method using Cs2O-B2O3 as a flux. The compound crystallizes in the tetragonal space group I4 with a = b = 6.8063(2) Å, c = 9.9523(7) Å, V = 461.05(4) Å(3), and Z = 2. It features a three-dimensional anionic open framework based on GeO4 tetrahedra and B4O9 clusters that are interconnected via corner-sharing, forming one-dimensional channels of nine-/ten-membered rings along the a and b axes, which are occupied by Cs(+) cations. Cs2GeB4O9 exhibits a very high thermal stability with a melting point of 849 °C, and it possesses a short-wavelength absorption edge onset at 198 nm determined by UV-vis transmission spectroscopy measurements on a slab of polished crystal. Powder second-harmonic generation (SHG) measurement on sieved crystals reveals that Cs2GeB4O9 is a type I phase-matchable material with a strong SHG response of about 2.8 × KH2PO4. The preliminary investigation indicates that Cs2GeB4O9 is a new promising second-order nonlinear-optical crystalline material.