Structural dependence of non-linear optical properties of 4-dimethylamino-3-cyanobiphenyl

4-Dimethylamino-3-cyanobiphenyl (4-DMA-3-CB) was characterized with respect to linear and nonlinear optical properties in a crystal as well as in solution. The crystal structure was studied dependent on the crystallization conditions. It is shown that the crystal structure exhibiting NLO-activity can completely be solved by a combination of electron diffraction and computer modeling. There are four molecules per unit cell in the space group Pna2(1) with dimensions a = 10.28 Angstrom, b = 22.64 Angstrom, c = 5.27 Angstrom. From this model structure the values and orientation of the dipole mu and static second order polarizability beta can be calculated. Their relevance to the values obtained by a combination of polarization dependent measurements of Electric Field Induced Second Harmonic Generation (EFISH) and Hyper-Rayleigh-Scattering (HRS) in solution are discussed. The molecular second order polarizability tensor was found to be dominated by one single component. The orientations of the dipole and the vectorial parts of the second order polarizability delivered by the semiempirical calculations are in good agreement with the results of the EFISH and HRS-measurements and allow a deeper insight into the nonlinear optical properties of the crystal.