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Updated: Mar 29, 2026

High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
Plastic Transition to Switch Nonlinear Optical Properties Showing the Record High Contrast in a Single-Component
Zhihua Sun1, Tianliang Chen1, Xitao Liu1
1Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials Chemistry and Physics, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, P. R. China.
Abstract:
To switch bulk nonlinear optical (NLO) effects represents an exciting new branch of NLO material science, whereas it remains a great challenge to achieve high contrast for "on/off" of quadratic NLO effects in crystalline materials. Here, we report the supereminent NLO-switching behaviors of a single-component plastic crystal, 2-(hydroxymethyl)-2-nitro-1,3-propanediol (1), which shows a record high contrast of at least ∼150, exceeding all the known crystalline switches. Such a breakthrough is clearly elucidated from the slowing down of highly isotropic molecular motions during plastic-to-rigid transition. The deep understanding of its intrinsic plasticity and superior NLO property allows the construction of a feasible switching mechanism. As a unique class of substances with short-range disorder embedded in long-range ordered crystalline lattice, plastic crystals enable response to external stimuli and fulfill specific photoelectric functions, which open a newly conceptual avenue for the designing of new functional materials.
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