Observation of second harmonic generation in doped polymeric carbon monoxide

Abstract

• Novel material produced by X-ray irradiation of an oxalate salt pressurized to ∼3 GPa. • Material exhibits second harmonic generation. • Rugged material able to withstand focused laser beams may find utility as an optical sensor and nonlinear optical mixer. Second harmonic generation (SHG) experiments were conducted on samples of a novel material: doped polymeric CO (dp-CO) that were synthesized via synchrotron X-ray irradiation of SrC 2 O 4 and high pressure. The goal of the study was to ascertain if the novel material is rugged enough to handle high levels of radiation to enable its possible use as future sensors or optoelectronic devices. Three samples were tested. Two of the smaller samples that were synthesized in a diamond anvil cell (DAC) and recovered at ambient conditions rapidly decomposed/degraded in the presence of the strong 3.6 × 10 9 mW/cm 2 intensity optical beam. The larger sample that was synthesized in a Paris-Edinburgh cell at 3 GPa after 1.5 h of hard X-ray white beam irradiation and also recovered to ambient conditions was not damaged by a 6.1 × 10 9 mW/cm 2 strength optical beam and exhibited second harmonic generation. This lends credence that this novel material (when synthesized under select conditions) may offer utility as a rugged radiation hardened and easy to manufacture nonlinear optical device.