Crystals of stilbazolium p-toluenesulfonate for second-order nonlinear optics

Abstract Crystal growth of 1-methyl-4-(2-(4-methoxyphenyl)vinyl)pyridinium 4-toluenesulfonate (methoxystilbazolium p-toluenesulfonate) was performed by slow evaporation method and two different crystals were found. Crystals grown from methanol solution were second-harmonic generation (SHG) active. On the other hand, crystals grown from water solution were SHG inactive. X-ray crystal structure analysis revealed that in the latter case, the chiral-handle character of p-toluenesulfonate (pTS) anion is obstructed by the hydrogen bonding between two pTS anions and water molecules incorporated during crystallization. The effective d value of SHG active crystals attained on the (010) plane was, as a preliminary result, 190 pm/V at the pumping wavelength of 1064 nm.