Pockels and Kerr cells fabricated with thin organic crystal films

Abstract

ABSTRACT Pockels and Kerr cells were fabricated by growing N.(4-thtropheny1)-L-pro1mol (NPP) crystal films between two transparent fused quartz plates on which indium-tin-oxide layers were deposited. Both linearand quadratic electro-optic effects of the crystals with thickness of 5and .tm were examined by an acmodulation method. Large modulation signals were observed with a low driving voltage, the figure of merit of the electro-optic phase retardation were estimated to be 8.Ox 10 It is suggested that theelectro-optic cells are promising for application because of their durability, relative easy manipulation during crystal growth and high figure of merit.Keywords: Pockels cell, Kerr cell, organic crystal, thin film, N-(4-nitrophenyl)-L-prolinol 1. INTRODUCTION Organic materials, such as 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline (MNA)', slyrylpyridinium cyanine dye (SPCD)2, 4-N,N-diniethylamino.-4'-N'-methyl-stilbazoliumtosylate (DAST), and N-(4-nitrophenyl)-L-prolinol (NPP)4have been reported to have very large electro-optic coefficients and fast response time. Nowadays, wave-guide growth technique are mainly based on crystallization of melt, thus growth large area organic crystalfilms with large electro-optic coefficient can directly lead to wave-guides applications. Thin organic crystal