Accelerated photobleaching of nonlinear optical polymer for the formation of optical waveguide

Abstract

The photobleaching process in nonlinear optical polymer thin film is shown to be accelerated by the addition of a photosensitizer. Photobleaching time has been effectively reduced by a factor of 3–5. Refractive indices of both unbleached and fully bleached film with benzyldimethylketal (BDK) is higher than those of the film without BDK. Nonlinear optical properties of the optical copolymer with photosensitizer were little affected by the addition of the photosensitizer. Optical loss of the waveguide formed by the technique is comparable to that of waveguide without photosensitizer.