DFT Calculations on the Wavelength Dispersion of Absorbance and Refractive Indices for Molecular Design of Photonic Polymers

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations using the B3LYP hybrid functional and the 6-311++G(d,p) basis set have been performed to predict the wavelength dispersion of optical absorbance and refractive indices for organic compounds and polymers in the range between the vacuum UV (${\sim}157\;nm$) and near-IR (${\sim}850\;nm$). The DFT calculations can reproduce the experimental dispersions of absorbance and refractive indices with high accuracy and low costs. The calculated dispersions demonstrate that the judicious introductions of $-F\;and\;-CF_{3}$ into alicyclic and heterocyclic compounds are effective in reducing the absorption at shorter wavelengths. In addition, the calculated Abbe numbers that represent the refractive index dispersion in the visble region are linearly proportional to the calculated refractive indices at 589 nm.