There continues to be intense research directed toward the preparation and characterization of new organic polymeric materials for second-order non-linear optics [1—3]. Thin films of these materials potentially could be used in optoelectronic devices because they have very attractive mechanical and electronic properties, such as femtosecond response times, high polarizability and processibility. These polymeric materials are also far less expensive than the conventional nonlinear optical (NLO) inorganic materials. By application of electric field poling such as corona poling [4], the chromophores within these polymers possessing high molecular polarizabilities can be effectively aligned to produce NLO thin films. These films have been shown to be effective in electro-optic (E-0) modulation and second harmonic generation (SHG). One of the greatest issues to address for poled polymeric NLO materials is the stability of the orientation of the NLO molecules. In this letter we describe the synthesis and NLO properties of a side-chain polyurethane with excel-lent long-term stability.
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