Symmetry breaking in ligand-protected gold clusters probed by nonlinear optics. Issue 24 (6th June 2016) - Van Steerteghem, Nick
Abstract : Strategies for symmetry breaking in monolayer-protected gold clusters were explored and probed using second-order nonlinear scattering. Abstract : The first hyperpolarizabilities of [Au25 (SR)18 ] −1/0 and Au38 (SR)24 clusters were determined by Hyper-Rayleigh Scattering. A strong dependence on the molecular symmetry was observed, and we explore two strategies to destroy the center of inversion in [Au25 (SR)18 ] −1/0, protection by chiral ligands and alloying of the cluster with silver. This may open new avenues to applications of Au : SR clusters in second-order nonlinear optics.