Two-photon absorption in host-guest complexes

Abstract

We present an extensive analysis of one- and two-photon absorption processes in some organic host-guest (H-G) complexes using linear and quadratic response theory within the framework of time-dependent density functional theory. For this purpose, we have considered all possible 20 host-guest complexes constructed from 4 host and 5 guest molecules. We have analysed how the one- and two-photon activity of the host and guest molecules are transferred to the respective host-guest complexes and how the electron donating and electron accepting ability of host-guest complexes affect their two-photon activity. Based on an analysis using the concept of channel interference, we have performed an in-depth analysis of the two-photon absorption processes in all these systems and provided a microscopic explanation for their variation among different complexes.