Multi-Photon Absorption in Metal-Organic Frameworks

Multi-photon absorption (MPA) is among the most prominent nonlinear optical (NLO) effects and has applications, for example in telecommunications, defense, photonics, and bio-medicines. Established MPA materials include dyes, quantum dots, organometallics and conjugated polymers, most often dispersed in solution. We demonstrate how metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a novel NLO solid-state materials class, can be designed for exceptionally strong MPA behavior. MOFs consisting of zirconium- and hafnium-oxo-clusters and featuring a chromophore linker based on the tetraphenylethene (TPE) molecule exhibit record high two-photon absorption (2PA) cross-section values, up to 3600 GM. The unique modular building-block principle of MOFs allows enhancing and optimizing their MPA properties in a theory-guided approach by combining tailored charge polarization, conformational strain, three-dimensional arrangement, and alignment of the chromophore linkers in the crystal.