Concerted mitigation of O···H and C(π)···H interactions prospects sixfold gain in optical nonlinearity of ionic stilbazolium derivatives.

DAST (4-dimethylamino-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium tosylate) is the most commercially successful organic nonlinear optical (NLO) material for frequency-doubling, integrated optics, and THz wave applications. Its success is predicated on its high optical nonlinearity with concurrent sufficient thermal stability. Many chemical derivatives of DAST have therefore been developed to optimize their properties; yet, to date, none have surpassed the overall superiority of DAST for NLO photonic applications. This is perhaps because DAST is an ionic salt wherein its NLO-active cation is influenced by multiple types of subtle intermolecular forces that are hard to quantify, thus, making difficult the molecular engineering of better functioning DAST derivatives. Here, we establish a model parameter, ηinter, that isolates the influence of intermolecular interactions on second-order optical nonlinearity in DAST and its derivatives, using second-harmonic generation (SHG) as a qualifier; by systematically mapping intercorrelat...