Predicting THz Generation Capability of Organic Crystals through Data Mining and Crystal Nonlinearity Models

Abstract

We report the use of DFT computation and mathematical models to predict the nonlinear dielectric polarization (P^{NL}) and nonlinear susceptibility coefficients (χ^{(2)}_{IJK}) of organic materials based on their crystal structures. We apply this computation approach on single-component crystals, co-crystals and ionic crystals found through data mining the Cambridge Structural Database. We verify these computational results with experimental terahertz (THz) generation efficiencies for known THz generators, demonstrating consistency between the measurements and the computed values. Several mined structures show similar or larger PNL values compared to state-of-the-art THz generation crystals DAST, OH1 and BNA, suggesting great potential for their use in nonlinear optical (NLO) applications. Importantly, we also compared the resulting model of nonlinear optical tensor components with commonly-used simplifications of nonlinearity, showing that the comprehensive approach should be the standard method to evaluate the nonlinear optical properties of single-crystalline materials.

14 pages, 4 figures