Chromophoric self-assembled superlattices as a new class of thin-film second-order nonlinear optical materials

This contribution reports a new approach to the synthesis of thin-film secondorder nonlinear optical (NLO) materials in which self-assembled chromophorecontaining multilayer structures are built up in the repeating reaction sequence: I3Si(CH2)2C6H4CH21 (Cp) , 4- [N,N-bis(3-hydroxypropyl)aminojstyryl-4' -pyridine (Ch), Cl3SiOSiCl2OSiCl3 (Si) , polyvinylalcohol (PVA) . The resulting multilayer structures have been characterized by optical and XPS spectroscopy, advancing contact angle measurements, null ellipsometry, and NLO properties. The latter mepirements reveal multilayer superlaces with good structural uniformity and that = 2 x l0 esu at A = 1064 nfl' (Xzz 6 x l0 esu for a single CpCh monolayer of 22 A estimated thickness).