An azo-bridged ferroelectric liquid crystal with highly enhanced second and third harmonic generation

A laterally azo-bridged trimer ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) incorporating a strong chromophore along its polar axis was synthesized and characterized by polarized-light optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, two-dimensional X-ray diffraction analysis, electro-optical measurements, and nonlinear optical (NLO) investigations. This mesogen exhibits a thermodynamically stable enantiotropic SmC* phase and a bistable ferroelectric switching in a surface stabilized cell with bookshelf geometry. It gives the resonance-enhanced d(22) coefficient of 28 pm V(-1) (λ = 1.369 μm) for second harmonic generation (SHG), the largest NLO susceptibility reported to date for all FLCs. At the same wavelength, a new type of helicoidal phase matching assisted by the helical SmC* structure was identified. When the second harmonic wavelength of 780 nm is far away from the resonance wavelength (λ(max) = 572 nm), the d(22) coefficient is reduced to 6.8 pm V(-1) (λ = 1.56 μm). In addition to a strong SHG activity, the trimer also shows a strong third harmonic generation (THG) with an estimated third-order nonlinear susceptibility of χ((3)) = ~3 × 10(-11) esu (λ = 1.56 μm), among the largest χ((3)) value reported from THG measurements for liquid crystals. This work enables viable applications of FLCs in nonlinear optics and offers an innovative approach to develop new FLCs with larger NLO strength.