Molecular engineering strategy to design efficient two-photon absorbers

Summary form only given. Applications related to the two-photon absorption (TPA) process are now well known and concerns different fields: 3D-fluorescence imaging, 3D optical data storage, 3D micro fabrication, photodynamic cancer therapy, and optical limiting. We developed a molecular engineering approach to optimize TPA phenomena within transparency requirements in the visible. Oligomers seem to be of great interest in the design of molecules with optimized TPA cross-sections in this range. The TPA efficiency may be interpreted in the J-aggregate model, which results from the coherent coupling of transition dipole moments in oligomers. Our strategy led also to the fabrication of microstructures by two-photon induced polymerization in the visible using low-cost microlasers.