Synthesis and third-order optical nonlinearity of some salts comprising planar pomplex cation and anion

Third-order optical nonlinearity of some new salts, which consist of planar complex cation [Cu(L)(2)](2+) (L=2,2 ' -bipyridine or phenanthroline) and planar complex anion [M(mnt)(2)](2-) (M = Ni, Co, Cu or Pd: mnt = maleonitr iledithiolate). were studied by degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) techniqu e. It was found that these compounds exhibit large non-resonant nonlinearit y at 1064 nln (gamma (1111) in the order of 10(-31)-10(-30) esu). and that among the molecules of the same series. the molecule with metallic ion of l arger atomic number possesses larger nonlinear hyperpolarizability gamma (1 111). The results also indicate that the third-order optical nonlinearity o f these salts mainly comes from the part of complex cation.