Coordination and organometallic compounds and inorganic-organic hybrid crystalline materials for second-order non-linear optics

This review concerns the main results obtained in the last few years by the research group at the Dept. di Chim. Inorg. Metallorg. e Anal. of the Univ. degli Studi di Milano, in the field of nonlinear optics. After a brief introduction on the basic concepts of nonlinear optics (NLO), the authors report the studies on the 2nd-order NLO properties of 1-dimensional (1D) and 2D coordination and organometallic compds. and hybrid inorg.-org. cryst. materials. The research allowed defining some general rules for the design of new appealing NLO compds. and to isolate and identify some new interesting photonic materials.