Synthesis and investigation of nonlinear optical properties of biphenyl ethylene derivatives with different substituents

•The biphenyl ethylene derivatives have high nonlinear absorption coefficient.•The derivatives have good optical limiting properties.•Three derivatives have pure and strong third harmonic signals.•The derivatives have potential applications in laser protection and modulation. Three biphenyl ethylene derivatives (BPED1, BPED2 and BPED3) with different substituent groups were synthesized by Schiff base reaction. The influence of substituent types on nonlinear optical properties of materials was studied. Three derivatives are reverse saturated absorption and have good optical limiting performances. The third harmonic strength of BPED1, BPED2 and BPED3 is 18 times, 27 times and 37 times that of SiO2, respectively. The optical limiting threshold and third harmonic signal show that three derivatives will have good application potential in the field of laser protection, laser modulation and conversion.