: Advanced photonic materials showing two-photon absorption (2PA) have been widely explored to develop three-dimensional imaging, micro and nanofabrication, all-optical switching, lithography on a nanoscale and many other enabling technologies. These all require nonlinear absorption chromophores with intrinsic 2PA cross-sections and long-term photo- and thermal stability. Here, we disclose the very first example of the dipolar carbene-metal-amide (CMA) material showing a enhanced 2PA cross-section up to 105 GM. Overall molecular design considerations such as extended π-conjugation (to increase polarizability), minimizing the singlet-triplet energy gap (ΔEST), and using heavy metal atoms are the first design principles to obtain bright one- and two-photon excited thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) material, showing one of the highest radiative rate of 2.18·106 s-1 across CMA materials. Bright red CMA 2P-TADF material shows excellent photostability (LT50 = 3 h) to 20 mW femtosecond pulsed laser excitation at 1000 nm, encouraging further CMA exploration for future applications in advanced photonic technologies requiring third-order nonlinear optical properties.

Enhanced third-order optical nonlinearity in a dipolar carbene-metal-amide material with two-photon excited delayed fluorescence

Giacomo Londi;
2026-01-01

Abstract

: Advanced photonic materials showing two-photon absorption (2PA) have been widely explored to develop three-dimensional imaging, micro and nanofabrication, all-optical switching, lithography on a nanoscale and many other enabling technologies. These all require nonlinear absorption chromophores with intrinsic 2PA cross-sections and long-term photo- and thermal stability. Here, we disclose the very first example of the dipolar carbene-metal-amide (CMA) material showing a enhanced 2PA cross-section up to 105 GM. Overall molecular design considerations such as extended π-conjugation (to increase polarizability), minimizing the singlet-triplet energy gap (ΔEST), and using heavy metal atoms are the first design principles to obtain bright one- and two-photon excited thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) material, showing one of the highest radiative rate of 2.18·106 s-1 across CMA materials. Bright red CMA 2P-TADF material shows excellent photostability (LT50 = 3 h) to 20 mW femtosecond pulsed laser excitation at 1000 nm, encouraging further CMA exploration for future applications in advanced photonic technologies requiring third-order nonlinear optical properties.
2026
Nwosu, Ikechukwu D.; Matasović, Lujo; Ramos, Tárcius N.; Le Phuoc, Nguyen; Londi, Giacomo; Gillett, Alexander J.; Toolan, Daniel T. W.; Smith, Charles...espandi
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/1359254
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