Sub-wavelength modulation of χ((2)) optical nonlinearity in organic thin films

Modulating the second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ((2))) of materials at the nanoscale represents an ongoing technological challenge for a variety of integrated frequency conversion and nonlinear nanophotonic applications. Here we exploit the large hyperpolarizability of intermolecular charge transfer states, naturally aligned at an organic semiconductor donor–acceptor (DA) interface, as a means to control the magnitude and sign of χ((2)) at the nanoscale. Focusing initially on a single pentacene-C(60) DA interface, we confirm that the charge transfer transition is strongly aligned orthogonal to the heterojunction and find that it is responsible for a large interfacial nonlinearity probed via second harmonic generation that is sufficient to achieve d(33)>10 pm V(−1), when incorporated in a non-centrosymmetric DA multilayer stack. Using grating-shadowed oblique-angle deposition to laterally structure the DA interface distribution in such multilayers subsequently enables the demonstration of a χ((2)) grating with 280 nm periodicity, which is the shortest reported to date.