Third-order nonlinear optical studies of new anthraquinone derivatives

Four new donor–acceptor–donor anthraquinone derivatives were synthesized and characterized by UV, IR, 1H NMR and elemental analysis. Their off-resonant third-order nonlinear optical properties were measured using femtosecond laser and degenerate four-wave mixing technique. The third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities χ(3) were 3.36–3.76 × 10−13 esu. The nonlinear refractive indexes n2 were 6.19–6.91 × 10−12 esu. The second-order hyperpolarizabilities γ of the molecules were 3.36–3.76 × 10−31 esu. The response times were 101–115 fs. The results show that these compounds have potential nonlinear optical applications.