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Photonic & Optical Materials

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Photonics is a technology which uses photons from radiant energy (such as visible light or infrared beams) to transmit data, instead of electrons. Compared to traditional electronics, photonics has numerous advantages for information- and image-processing technologies, including larger bandwidths, quicker response rates, and less noise from extraneous electromagnetic fields. The nonlinear optical (NLO) process plays an essential role in photonic applications due to its ability to change the properties of light, such as frequency, phase, amplitude, or transmission characteristics when the light passes through an NLO-active medium. 

Among our photonic and optical materials, we offer a wide range of dyes (laser, infrared (IR), chemiluminescent, phthalocyanine/porphyrin, photochromic and thermochromic), as well as non-linear optical (NLO), photoluminescent and refractive index (RI) control materials. ​Light up your light-management and display technology research with​ our comprehensive portfolio of products:​

Organic Nonlinear Optical (NLO) Materials

We offer a wide range of organic NLO materials, including chromophors, intermediates, NLO monomers and NLO polymers, with superior speed of response, high optical clarity, and better magnitude of their third-order susceptibility. For a material to exhibit NLO activity it should be non-centrosymmetric. In polymer-based NLO materials, the NLO chromophore can be incorporated into a polymer matrix, either as a guest (in a host-guest-system), or as an integral component covalently grafted to polymer chain, or even co-polymerized into the polymer backbone itself. Our covalent-bonded NLO polymers can markedly improve the stability of NLO chromophors in your applications.

Waveguide Materials

Refractive Index (RI) is of critical importance for applications such as optical waveguides, LCD displays, anti-reflective coatings, and ophthalmic devices. Polymer-based low- and high- refractive index materials are easier to process, lightweight, and insensitive to mechanical stress in comparison to their inorganic counterparts. We offer a comprehensive range of high-refractive polymers based on aromatic and brominated aromatic monomers, as well as low-refractive polymers based on fluorinated monomers.

NIR Dyes

Our near-infrared (NIR) emitting dyes TokeOni and seMpai are ideal for non-invasive deep tissue bioimaging in small animals. They produce near-infrared emissions peaking at 677 nm, which can penetrate most animal tissues and bodies, and allow much higher sensitivity, compared to D-luciferin in the conventional firefly luciferase (Fluc)/ D-luciferin system.

Compared to D-luciferin, TokeOni and seMpai feature:

  • Higher water solubilities
  • Longer wavelength light emissions
  • Ability to pass through blood-brain barrier
  • 5.2-fold signal increase
  • High chemical stability
  • Low toxicity

When paired with optimized enzymes, TokeOni-based AkaBLI systems provided 40-fold higher brightness in vitro, and 100 to 1000 times higher brightness in vivo than conventional D-luciferin/Fluc systems, allowing noninvasive visualization of single cells deep inside freely moving animals, which was still effective at 1 year after injection.

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