Diode effect caused by sequence of benzothiazole on optical properties

- Two kinds of D-π-A-π for benzothiazole derivatives were synthesized.
- The two Structure exhibited different optical properties.
- An efficient design strategy for potential NLO materials is proposed.

In this work, two kinds of benzothiazole derivatives were synthesized. The third-order nonlinear optical properties of the benzothiazole derivatives in minimal curative dose (DCM) were analyzed using the Z-scan measurement at 532 nm with a 120 fs pulse laser. The largest third-order nonlinear susceptibility (χ(3)) and second-order hyperpolarizability of the complexes (γ) were estimated at 1.4 × 10−13 esu and 0.86 × 10−30 esu, respectively. The results showed that the sequence of 2- and 6-position in benzothiazole has served as a “diode,” linking to the other groups that had great influence on the optical properties such as fluorescence and nonlinear optical absorption, and the increase of the polarity and the extension of the conjugate structure had benefits to the third-order nonlinearity. The experimental findings were confirmed with the use of DFT, TDDFT, and ZINDO calculations.

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