Hypercubic octupolar molecular crystals for quadratic nonlinear optics

Summary form only given.Recognition in the early nineties of the enlarged potential for nonlinear optics of octupolar and more generally of multipolar systems at the molecular level has enlarged the earlier one-dimensional (1D) molecular diode template and triggered the exploration of new research avenues exploiting the so-far untapped reservoir of three-dimensional (3D) chemical structures. A subsequent challenge has been the organization of such multipolar units into relevant and possibly optimized macroscopic assemblies and materials with an overall multipolar symmetry capable of revealing the properties of the underlying multipolar building blocks. Such optimal blueprints and the associated hierarchy of crystal structures have been recognized in the case of dipolar rods but have failed so far to be generalized to octupolar crystalline lattices. We will report on recent advances in this domain and propose optimal octupolar crystalline templates following a general hypercubic lattice.