Novel Photochromic Zwitterions For Multifrequency Data Storage

Abstract

ABSTRACTZ-β-(N-alkyl-4-pyridinium)-α-cyano-4-styryldicyanomethanide (R-P3CNQ) and its quinolinium analogue (R-Q3CNQ) are photochromic. Their LB films show sharp charge transfer bands at 495 nm (C16H33-P3CNQ) , 565 nm (C16H33-Q3CNQ) and 614 nm (C8H17-Q3CNQ) with half widths at half maximum of 27, 22 and 37 nm respectively. They show interesting nonlinear optical properties and have the potential to store three bits per pixel when addressed at these wavelengths.