Electrooptic properties of one-dimensional photonic crystals based on organic ferroelectric and dye

Abstract

We present the results of our study of the electrooptic properties of a one-dimensional photonic crystal created from alternating thin layers of two organic compounds, a ferroelectric and a dye. We show that the ferroelectric subsystem of molecular layers in such a heterostructure can be polarized by an external electric field, leading to a linear electrooptic effect and bistability of the electrooptic response in the spectral region of the photonic stop band. On the other hand, a quasi-linear electrooptic effect attributable to the quadratic Stark effect and the built-in spatially periodic static electric field is observed in the spectral region of the absorption of dye molecules. The emergence of this built-in field is explained in terms of the continuity of the electric displacement vector in a spatially periodic dielectric heterostructure with a macroscopically polarized subsystem of ferroelectric layers.