Chiral Lead-Free Hybrid Organic-Metal Halides for Thermally Switchable Nonlinear Optics

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Optoelectronics
• Crystallography

Background:

• Chiral hybrid organic-inorganic metal halides are crucial for nonlinear optics in optoelectronics.
• Current lead-containing systems pose environmental and stability issues due to toxicity and low laser damage thresholds.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop novel lead-free chiral materials for optoelectronic applications.
• To address the environmental and stability limitations of existing metal halide systems.

Main Methods:

• A solvent-assisted drop-casting strategy was employed to synthesize antimony-based chiral microplates.
• Characterization of optical anisotropy and laser damage threshold was performed.

Main Results:

• The synthesized microplates exhibit excellent optical anisotropy and preserve bulk second-harmonic generation (SHG) activity.
• A high laser damage threshold exceeding 133.3 mJ cm⁻² was achieved.
• A proof-of-concept temperature-responsive optical switch device was constructed using lattice phase transition characteristics.

Conclusions:

• The developed lead-free antimony-based chiral microplates offer a promising alternative for optoelectronic devices.
• These materials enable dynamic regulation of micro-nano scale nonlinear optical signals.
• The findings validate the feasibility of developing on-chip integrated photonic devices.