Optical nonlinearities of conjugated molecules. Stilbene derivatives and highly polar aromatic compounds

We have investigated the influence of donor and acceptor substituents on the second and third order hyperpolarizabilities β and γ of large conjugated molecules such as stilbene and styrene derivatives. This was performed by two independent measurements of β and γ using the techniques of dc electric-field induced second-harmonic generation and tunable four-wave mixing in liquids and solutions. For trans−stilbene derivatives, β and γ are typically 10 times larger than for the corresponding benzene compounds, and are strongly correlated with the mesomeric effect of the substituents. A series of disubstituted molecules with strong donor–acceptor intramolecular charge transfer exhibit very large β, and it is shown that this enhancement can be predicted from the basic properties of the first electronic excited state.