<title>Surface plasmon resonance methods for monitoring electrostatic fields in nonlinear optical thin films</title>

Abstract

The new in situ optical technique of electrochemically modulated surface plasmon resonance is described and applied to the measurement of the electrostatic fields inside noncentrosymmetric zirconium phosphate films. In situ EM-SPR measurements on noncentrosymmetric ZP films yield a value for the change in electric field strength of 4 X 103 V/cm for a change in electrode potential of +/- 25 mV. This electric field strength value indicates that there is substantial ion penetration into the film in the electrochemical environment. Both the phase and magnitude of the surface optical response in the EM-SPR measurements are used to distinguish the molecular and metal electrode contributions to the overall optical signal. These two EM- SPR contributions are identified and separated in a quantitative fashion through a series of theoretical Fresnel calculations.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.