Sterically stabilized second-order nonlinear optical chromophores with improved stability and devices incorporating the same

A nonlinear optical device comprising:

• an active element formed from a chromophore including
• an electron donor group,
• an electron acceptor group, and
• a π-conjugate aliphatic fused-ring bridge structure between the electron donor group and the electron acceptor group;
• wherein the electron donor group is directly connected to the bridge structure, with no carbon-carbon double bond between the electron donor group and the bridge structure;
• wherein the electron acceptor group is connected to the fused ring of the bridge structure with a conjugated diene.

A nonlinear optical device comprising:

• an active element including a chromophore formed as:
• wherein D is an electron donor group;
• wherein A is an electron acceptor group formed as:
• wherein R=H, F, or any perhalogenated, halogenated or non-halogenated aliphatic or aromatic group with 1-30 carbon atoms functionalized with zero or more of the following functional groups:
• hydroxy, ether, ester, amino, silyl, and siloxy, and R groups at different positions are not necessarily the same.

A nonlinear optical device comprising:

• an active element including a chromophore formed as:
• wherein D is an electron donor group;
• wherein A is an electron acceptor group formed as:
• wherein R=H, F, or any perhalogenated, halogenated or non-halogenated aliphatic or aromatic group with 1-30 carbon atoms functionalized with zero or more of the following functional groups:
• hydroxy, ether, ester, amino, silyl, and siloxy, and R groups at different positions are not necessarily the same.

A nonlinear optical device comprising:

• an active element including a chromophore formed as:
• wherein D is an electron donor group;
• wherein A is an electron acceptor group formed as:
• wherein R=H, F, or any perhalogenated, halogenated or non-halogenated aliphatic or aromatic group with 1-30 carbon atoms functionalized with zero or more of the following functional groups:
• hydroxy, ether, ester, amino, silyl, and siloxy, and R groups at different positions are not necessarily the same.

A nonlinear optical device comprising:

• an active element including a chromophore formed as:
• wherein D is an electron donor group;
• wherein A is a ring-locked tricyano electron acceptor group;
• wherein R=H, F, or any perhalogenated, halogenated or non-halogenated aliphatic or aromatic group with 1-30 carbon atoms functionalized with zero or more of the following functional groups:
• hydroxy, ether, ester, amino, silyl, and siloxy, and R groups at different positions are not necessarily the same.

A nonlinear optical device comprising:

• an active element including a chromophore formed as:
• wherein D is an electron donor group;
• wherein A is an electron acceptor group formed as:
• wherein R=H, F, or any perhalogenated, halogenated or non-halogenated aliphatic or aromatic group with 1-30 carbon atoms functionalized with zero or more of the following functional groups:
• hydroxy, ether, ester, amino, silyl, and siloxy, and R groups at different positions are not necessarily the same.

A nonlinear optical device comprising:

• an active element including a chromophore formed as:
• wherein D is an electron donor group;
• wherein A is an electron acceptor group;
• wherein R=H, F, or any perhalogenated, halogenated or non-halogenated aliphatic or aromatic group with 1-30 carbon atoms functionalized with zero or more of the following functional groups:
• hydroxy, ether, ester, amino, silyl, and siloxy, and R groups at different positions are not necessarily the same.

A nonlinear optical device comprising:

• an active element formed from a chromophore including
• an electron donor group,
• an electron acceptor group, and
• a bridge structure between the electron donor group and the electron acceptor group, the bridge structure including a ring double-bonded to the electron acceptor group, the ring including an electron withdrawing group.

A nonlinear optical device comprising:

• an active element including a chromophore formed as:
• wherein D is an electron donor group;
• wherein B is a n-conjugate bridge;
• wherein A is an electron acceptor group;
• wherein R=H, F, or any perhalogenated, halogenated or non-halogenated aliphatic or aromatic group with 1-30 carbon atoms functionalized with zero or more of the following functional groups:
• hydroxy, ether, ester, amino, silyl, and siloxy, and R groups at different positions are not necessarily the same.

A nonlinear optical device comprising:

• an active element formed from a chromophore including
• an electron donor group,
• an electron acceptor group including a linear conjugated triene bearing four cyano groups, and
• a bridge structure between the electron donor group and the electron acceptor group;
• wherein the linear conjugated triene is a linear extension of the conjugated system of the donor and the bridge.