Highly Efficient and Thermally Stable Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Chromophores and Electrooptic Polymers

Abstract

Organic polymeric electro-optic (E-O) materials have attracted significant attention because of their potential use as fast and efficient components of integrated photonic devices (1,2). However, the practical application of these materials in optical devices is somewhat limited by the stringent material requirements imposed by the device design, fabrication processes and operating environments. Among the various material requirements, the most notable ones are large electro-optic coefficients (r(33)) and high thermal stability (3). The design of poled polymeric materials with high electro-optic activity (r(33)) involves the optimization of the percent incorporation of efficient (large beta mu) second order nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophores into the polymer matrices and the effective creation of poling-induced non-centrosymmetric structures. The factors that affect the material stability are a) the inherent thermal stability of the NLO chromophores, b) the chemical stability of the NLO chromophores during the polymer processing conditions, and c) the long-term dipolar alignment stability at high temperatures. Although considerable progress has been made in achieving these properties (4), organic polymeric materials suitable for practical E-O device applications are yet to be developed. This chapter highlights some of our approaches in the optimization of molecular and material nonlinear optical and thermal properties.