Investigation of dipole alignments by swelling in poled thin films of a side-group polymer using second harmonic generation

Abstract

This paper deals with relations between solvent diffusion and changes in second harmonic generation (SHG) in a side-group polymer with nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophores. The SHG signal of poled polymer thin films was measured as a function of time during the swelling process with methanol. The results indicated that the diffusion process was Fickian. The topographic results obtained by atomic force microscopy, together with the SHG data, also demonstrated the existence of the domain layer formed during poling that gave rise to the principal SHG intensity for this sample. Also, a noncentrosymmetric chromophore ordering was induced by swelling in the absence of a poling electric field. This time-varying SHG signal upon swelling was discussed in terms of dipolar and polar alignments of the side-group NLO chromophores. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 37: 3108–3114, 1999