A Highly Optical Anisotropic Hybrid Metal Halide for Modulation and Generation of Polarized Light

Abstract

Polarized light is critical for a wide range of applications in modern optics. However, its generation and modulation typically require additional optical comments, which hinders device compactness. Herein, an air‐stable Tin(IV)‐based hybrid metal halide, (C10H9N2O)2SnCl6, composed of [C10H9N2O]+ cations and isolated [SnCl6]2− octahedra is reported. Notably, (C10H9N2O)2SnCl6 exhibits a robust birefringence of 0.50@550 nm that is evidently larger than those of commercially used crystals, which enables efficient modulation of polarized light. Moreover, it possesses a broad polarized blue emission in the range of 374–600 nm with a peak at 426 nm. Theoretical and structural studies reveal that the high optical anisotropy for large birefringence and directly polarized emission of (C10H9N2O)2SnCl6 is ascribed to the cooperative effect of distortion of [SnCl6]2− and high π‐conjugation of [C10H9N2O]+ in parallel arrangement. This work may provide new thoughts on designing and realizing the miniaturization of polarization‐resolved optoelectronic devices.