Giant optical nonlinearity in DNA lyotropic liquid crystals

Opt Express. 2017 Oct 16;25(21):25951-25959. doi: 10.1364/OE.25.025951.

Abstract

We report the experimental evidence of nonlinear optical response in DNA lyotropic nematic liquid crystals. Pump-probe experiments indicate that the non-linearity is remarkably large. Quantitative assessment of the non-linear optical coefficient by transient optical grating demonstrates that the response is of the same order of the well-known Giant Optical Nonlinearity (GON) of thermotropic nematics. These results represent a further incentive to the current investigation of potential applications of DNA in biophotonics.

MeSH terms

  • Anisotropy
  • Biophysical Phenomena
  • DNA / chemistry*
  • Liquid Crystals / chemistry*
  • Nonlinear Dynamics*
  • Nucleic Acid Conformation
  • Optical Phenomena*

Substances

  • DNA