Two major reasons limit porphyrins photonic applications: (i) the difficulty of handling them in liquid solutions and (ii) their degradation with long exposure to light. This necessitates the use of appropriate solid matrices to host the porphyrin compounds such as Nafion (117), a stable and inert ion exchange polymer. The first part of this publication confirms such a possibility. In addition to their effective NLO properties, an enhancement of the Soret and Q-bands' absorbance width have been observed by blending three different porphyrin molecules in the Nafion column matrix membrane. This is an important development towards achieving efficient photon-harvesting medium for possible application in photonic devices. The second part of this contribution reports on the self-assembly/molecular recognition of a specific class of porphyrins giving rise to tubular nano-systems with potential THG nonlinear properties.

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Concentration dependent optical properties of the various types of porphyrin compounds were studied using optical absorbance and Z-scan measurements. Enhanced absorbance width of the Soret and Q-bands have been observed by blending three different porphyrin molecules in Nafion column matrix membrane. This is an important development towards achieving efficient photon-harvesting medium for possible application in photonic devices. Moreover, new evidences have been found on the concentration dependance of the nonlinear absorption coefficient (β) of the VTPP in Nafion.