Abstract

In line with the renewed interest in developing novel Non Linear Optical (NLO) materials, natural Lycopene’s NLO Properties are reported for the first time within the scientific literature. Correlated to its 1-D conjugated π-electrons linear conformation, it is shown that natural Lycopene exhibits a significantly elevated 3rd order nonlinearity χ(3) as high as 2.65 10−6 esu, the largest value of any investigated natural phyto-compound so far, including β-carotene. In addition to a saturable absorption, the corresponding observed self-defocusing effect in Lycopene seems to be the result of a thermal nonlinearity. The nonlinear response coupled to the observed fluorescence in the Visible spectral range points to a potential photodynamic therapy application as well as the possibility of engineering of novel hybrid Lycopene based NLO nano-materials.

Details

Title
On the remarkable nonlinear optical properties of natural tomato lycopene
Author
Numan, N. 1 ; Jeyaram, S. 2 ; Kaviyarasu, K. 1 ; Neethling, P. 3 ; Sackey, J. 1 ; Kotsedi, C. L. 1 ; Akbari, M. 1 ; Morad, R. 1 ; Mthunzi-Kufa, P. 4 ; Sahraoui, B. 5 ; Maaza, M. 1 

 University of South Africa, UNESCO-UNISA-iTLABS/NRF Africa Chair in Nano-Sciences & Nanotechnology, CGS, Pretoria, South Africa (GRID:grid.412801.e) (ISNI:0000 0004 0610 3238); iThemba LABS-National Research Foundation of South Africa, NANOAFNET, Cape Town, South Africa (GRID:grid.462638.d) (ISNI:0000 0001 0696 719X) 
 Surya Group of Institutions, Department of Physics, School of Engineering and Technology, Vikravandi, Villupuram, India (GRID:grid.462638.d) 
 Stellenbosch University, Physics Department, Laser Research Institute, Stellenbosch, South Africa (GRID:grid.11956.3a) (ISNI:0000 0001 2214 904X) 
 University of South Africa, UNESCO-UNISA-iTLABS/NRF Africa Chair in Nano-Sciences & Nanotechnology, CGS, Pretoria, South Africa (GRID:grid.412801.e) (ISNI:0000 0004 0610 3238); iThemba LABS-National Research Foundation of South Africa, NANOAFNET, Cape Town, South Africa (GRID:grid.462638.d) (ISNI:0000 0001 0696 719X); National Laser Centre, Council for Scintific & Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa (GRID:grid.462638.d) 
 LUNAM Université, Université d’Angers, Angers Cedex, France (GRID:grid.7252.2) (ISNI:0000 0001 2248 3363); CNRS UMR 6200, Laboratoire MOLTECH-Anjou, Angers Cedex, France (GRID:grid.463978.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 2288 0078) 
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2671804487
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.