Terahertz time domain and far-infrared spectroscopies of side-chain electro-optic polymers

Abstract

We investigated the dielectric properties of side-chain electro-optic polymers in a broad THz frequency region (90 GHz to 7 THz). For this investigation, we used terahertz time domain spectroscopy and the absorption coefficient in a broader frequency region of up to 20 THz that was obtained by far-infrared spectroscopy. The polymers studied were a new methacrylate polymer with a high-hyperpolarizability chromophore as the sidechain, a side-chain copolymer Disperse Red 1 polymethylmethacrylate, and pure polymethylmethacrylate. The dielectric properties in the low THz frequency region (∼0.1 THz) provide us with important information about the intrinsic refractive index for ultrahigh-speed electro-optic modulation (∼100 GHz), as well as versatile information such as the absorption coefficient and dielectric loss. The THz and far-infrared spectroscopic data in the wide frequency region provide us with the fundamental data for applications of side-chain electro-optic polymers within THz generation and detection.