Ln2(SeO3)2(SO4)(H2O)2 (Ln = Sm, Dy, Yb): A Mixed-Ligand Pathway to New Lathanide (III) Multifunctional Materials Featuring Nonlinear Optical and Magnetic Anisotropy Properties

TL;DR

This study introduces a new chemical pathway to synthesize noncentrosymmetric chiral lanthanide materials with nonlinear optical and magnetic anisotropy properties, advancing multifunctional material design.

Contribution

The paper presents a mixed-ligand design strategy to create novel polar chiral lanthanide materials with combined optical and magnetic functionalities.

Findings

Materials exhibit phase-matching nonlinear optical responses

Strong magnetic anisotropy observed due to spin-orbit coupling

Successful synthesis of previously unknown polar chiral magnets

Abstract

Bottom-up assembly of optically nonlinear and magnetically anisotropic lanthanide materials involving precisely placed spin carriers and optimized metal-ligand coordination offers a potential route to developing electronic architectures for coherent radiation generation and spin-based technologies, but the chemical design historically has been extremely hard to achieve. To address this, we developed a worthwhile avenue for creating new noncentrosymmetric chiral Ln3+ materials Ln2(SeO3)2(SO4)(H2O)2 (Ln = Sm, Dy, Yb) by mixed-ligand design. The materials exhibit phase-matching nonlinear optical responses, elucidating the feasibility of the heteroanionic strategy. Ln2(SeO3)2(SO4)(H2O)2 displays paramagnetic property with strong magnetic anisotropy facilitated by large spin-orbit coupling. This study demonstrates a new chemical pathway for creating previously unknown polar chiral magnets with multiple functionalities.