An Unprecedented Antimony(III) Borate with Strong Linear and Nonlinear Optical Responses

Abstract

Antimony(III) borates with stereochemical active lone pair remains a huge blank, despite that the first antimony borate has been reported for more than twenty years. Herein, we successfully synthesize the first antimony(III) borate in closed system, namely SbB 3 O 6 . Remarkably, SbB 3 O 6 not only exhibits an exceptional linear optical response, that is, birefringence of ∆ n =0.290 at the wavelength of 546 nm, which is the largest among borates, but also has a strong nonlinear optical response of 3.5 times larger than the benchmark KH 2 PO 4 , which exceeds those of most borates. Theoretical calculations reveal that the coexistence of strong linear and nonlinear optical responses in SbB 3 O 6 should be attributable to the synergistic effect of π -conjugated B-O anionic groups and Sb 3+ with stereochemical active lone pair. This work provides a new class of optical bi-functional materials with potential prospects in integrated optical devices.