Stable Electrooptical Guest-Host Polymers Based on Crosslinked Allyl Compounds

Abstract

Abstract Novel nonlinear optical (NLO) guest-host polymers were prepared by means of a two-step polymerization of multifunctional aromatic allylic monomers. A soluble prepolymer obtained in the first step was doped with the NLO-azo dye 2-((4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-ethylamino)-phenylazo)-3,5-dicyano-4-methylthiophene and aligned by means of corona poling while the polymer network was formed via thermal polymerization in the second step. The crosslinking reaction was followed by film thickness measurements. For example, in a 6 hours' polymerization at 140°C a long-term stable material based on poly(triallyl isocyanurate) was obtained. An order parameter of φ ≈ 0.3 was deduced from absorption measurements. An electrooptical coefficient of r 33 ≈ 10 pm/V (at a wavelength of 785 nm) was determined.