| NLO | Nonlinear optical |
| ICT | Intramolecular charge transfer |
| RSA | Reverse saturable absorption |
| SA | Saturable absorption |
| NLA | Nonlinear optical absorption |
| SAs | Saturable absorbers |
| OLs | Optical limiters |
| DMSO | Dimethyl sulfoxide |
| FMO | Frontier molecular orbital |
| NTO | Natural transition orbital |
| TAS | Transient absorption spectroscopy |
| DFT | Density functional theory |
| TD-DFT | Time-dependent density functional theory |
| OPA | Optical parametric amplifier |