Sogang University team develops new strategy for designing high-performance optical materials

A joint research team at Sogang University has developed a new strategy for designing optical materials that enable efficient wavelength conversion by effectively arranging three different optically active components within a single crystal. The university said Monday that the findings were published last month in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, an internationally renowned chemistry journal. The research team was led by Ok Kang-min, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, and Jang Joon-ik, a professor in the Department of Physics. Zeng Wei, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemistry, served as the study’s first author, while Ok and Jang were co-corresponding authors. Nonlinear optical materials enable the conversion of laser light into light of different wavelengths. They are used in a wide range of applications, including high-performance lasers, precision optical measurements, optical communications and advanced photonic technologies. However, achieving superior optical performance requires more than simply combining components that respond strongly to