High second harmonic generation in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals by doping with optimally oriented chromophores

TL;DR

This study demonstrates exceptionally high second harmonic generation in a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal doped with chromophores, showing potential for advanced nonlinear optical applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel doping strategy with chromophores to significantly enhance second harmonic generation in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals.

Findings

Achieved second order susceptibility up to 25 pmV-1 in absorbing regimen.

Demonstrated high nematic order and ease of alignment in the mixture.

Reported the highest SHG performance among liquid crystals so far.

Abstract

We report on the second harmonic generation performance of a ferroelectric nematic fluid consisting of the prototype ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal, RM734 mixed with the classical chromophore Dispersed-Orange 3 at 5 %wt. The mixture exhibits an interesting mesomorphic behavior with a wide temperature range of the ferroelectric mesophase, high nematic order parameter and ease of alignment in cells. In the study, two fundamental wavelengths (1064 nm and 1574 nm) have been used in order to account for the second harmonic generation performance in transparent and absorbing regimens. The results have been very outstanding and are among the highest for liquid crystals so far. Specifically, second order susceptibility tensor components of up to 25 pmV-1 and 8.5 pmV-1 have been obtained in the absorbing and transparent regimens, respectively. The mixing of chromophores with ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals is then stablished as a promising strategy in the search of high-performance nonlinear-optical mesogens.