Structural and optical characterization of novel nitro substituted D-π-A-π-A type chalcone single crystal showing second-order and third-order nonlinear optical properties

In this report, nonlinear optical crystal has both second-order and third-order nonlinear optical properties, and crystal is grown by using a slow solvent evaporation technique. The functional groups are identified through spectroscopic technique, and crystal structure is obtained from the refinement and analysis of the single crystal elucidated from single-crystal X-ray diffraction study. Furthermore, the study of linear absorbance has been carried out by using UV/VIS/NIR spectroscopic technique. The presence of defect states were analyzed through photoluminescence study. The electronic contribution parameters of the first order and second-order hyperpolarizability have been calculated from the theoretical approach at the DFT level. The second harmonic generation efficiency (SHG) of (2E)-1-(3-chlorophenyl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)prop-2-en-1-one (3CP4NP) has been calculated and compared with the standard material like KDP. Laser damage threshold studies has been performed at 532 nm. Even more, third-order nonlinear optical properties (nonlinear absorption and nonlinear refraction) of 3CP4NP have been carried out from simple and effective Z-scan technique using Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with 532 nm. The optical limiting properties, second-order hyperpolarizability and corresponding third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility of the crystal have been studied in the present investigation.