Modulation of the Second Order Nonlinear Optical Properties of Helical Graphene Nanoribbons Through Introducing Azulene Defects or/and BN Units

The current study has obtained excellent potential nonlinear optical(NLO) materials by combining density functional theory methods with sum-over-states model to predict the second order NLO properties of helical graphene nanoribbons(HGNs) through introducing azulene defects or/and BN units. The introduction of these functional groups deforms the pristine HGN (compression or tension) and enhances obviously the static first hyperpolarizability(<b₀>) of system by up to two orders of magnitude. The tensor components along the helical axis of HGNs play a dominant role in the total <b₀>. The azulene defects and the BN units polarize the pristine HGN to different degrees, and the azulenes and contiguous benzenes are involved in the major electron excitations with significant contributions to <b₀> but the BN units are not. The BN-doped chiral HGNs have good kinetic stability and strong second order NLO properties(6.84×10⁵×10^-30 esu), and can be a potential candidate of high-performance second order NLO materials. The predicted two-dimensional second order NLO spectra provide useful information for further exploration of those helicenes for electro-optic applications.