Processing-induced structural modulation and nonlinear optical enhancement in aminofluorene-modified LiNbO₃
摘要
Aminofluorene-doped Lithium niobate (AF: LiNbO₃) was successfully synthesized as a novel class of semi-organic nonlinear optical materials via a precursor-assisted route, enabling the integration of organic π-conjugated moieties into a ferroelectric oxide matrix. X-ray diffraction analysis, coupled with Rietveld refinement, confirmed that Aminofluorene-doped Lithium niobate retains a rhombohedral LiNbO₃ crystal lattice structure, with minor lattice expansion, improved crystal quality, and effective dopant incorporation. Spectroscopic analysis revealed significant π-electron conjugation, D–A push-pull interactions, asymmetrical Nb-O bondings, and hydrogen bonding interactions, which are responsible for enhanced intramolecular charge transfer, hyperpolarizability, and non-centrosymmetric charge distribution—hallmarks of nonlinear optical activity. Linear optical analysis revealed a wide band gap of 3.37 eV, minor structural defects, and significant birefringence of 0.67, indicating efficient light-matter interactions. Third-order nonlinear optical analysis of Aminofluorene-doped Lithium niobate using Z-scan analysis revealed significant saturable absorption, self-defocusing nonlinearity, and a high nonlinear susceptibility of 9.01 × 10⁻⁶ esu, along with superior laser damage thresholds of 3.8–5.0 J cm⁻², indicating excellent photostability under intense light-matter interactions. In parallel, theoretical calculations revealed significant charge delocalization and polarized domain formations, hallmarks of nonlinear optical activity. In particular, significant charge delocalization along particular directions and polarized domain formations are responsible for nonlinear optical activity. Calculated values of polarizability (α_tot = 259.69 a.u.) and first hyperpolarizability (β_tot = 337.43 a.u.) also substantiate significant nonlinear optical activity of Aminofluorene-doped Lithium niobate. In summary, the hybridization of Aminofluorene and Lithium niobate makes Aminofluorene-doped Lithium niobate an excellent nonlinear optical material for second-harmonic generation and optical limiting applications.