Eutectic Mixtures of Inorganic and Organic Adamantane-Type Compounds With Strongly Nonlinear Optical Properties

We report a new concept to lower the melting temperature (T_m) of inorganic-organic hybrid adamantane-based cluster compounds by forming unprecedented eutectic cluster mixtures with organic adamantane derivatives. Blending of clusters of the type [(p-MeC₆H₄Si(CH₂SnPhE)₃] (E = S, Se, Te) with (3-F-4-Me-C₆H₃)₃Ad, (3-F-4-Me-Ph)₄Ad, and (4-MeO-C₆H₄)₄Ad was achieved by mechanical mixing and led to decreased T_m while retaining the components' chemical identity. Such adamantane-type compounds are known to exhibit strongly non-linear optical properties: upon irradiation with a continuous wave (CW) laser diode, they respond either by second-harmonic generation (SHG), if being crystalline, or by white-light generation (WLG) with corresponding broadband emission, if being intrinsically amorphous or transformed into a glassy state. Herein, we show that this feature is preserved in the eutectic mixtures, hence, we can report superior properties of these cluster-based materials that combine favorable nonlinear optical behavior with lowered T_m, which facilitates their processing for future use.