An elastic luminescent organic single crystal with linear and nonlinear optical waveguide properties

Abstract

In recent years, organic single crystals combining elastic and photoluminescent (PL) properties have attracted extensive attention due to their promising applications in many fields. However, elastic organic crystals with two-photon luminescence (2 PL) waveguiding properties are still rarely found, which is imperative for various applications, including near-infrared (NIR) bioimaging and nonlinear optical (NLO) photonic devices. This work reports an elastic single crystal with a long needle shape, anthracene-9,10-dicarbaldehyde (An-DC). Its crystal (100) face exhibits highly reversible bending by applying the mechanical force, which is facilitated by the van der Waals (C– H···π), H-bond (C–H⋯O), and π···π interactions among molecules. The crystal emits a strong orange-red fluorescence when excited by blue-violet light. Interestingly, it also exhibits excellent two-photon fluorescence emission when stimulated by near-infrared light. Based on these linear and nonlinear optical characteristics, the waveguide applications of the An-DC crystal were implemented. Notably, in the bending state, the luminescence performance and the crystal structure of the An-DC crystal are maintained well, which can be used as a low-loss material for linear and nonlinear optical waveguide devices, thus expanding the potential use of flexible organic crystals.