Design and Synthesis of a New Class of Photocrosslinkable Nonlinear OpticalPolymers

摘要

We have developed a new class of photocrosslinkable polymers with stable secondand third order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties. The polymers have significant processing advantages over their inorganic counterparts. The NLO polymers have been designed as guest-host systems and as polymers with the NLO and photocrosslinkable units in the main chain and in the side chain. Cinnamoyl groups have been selected as photocrosslinking groups. Donor-acceptor substituted conjugated dyes functionalized with photocrosslinking units have been used as the NLO component. The stability of the poled and crosslinked polymers has been investigated by monitoring the decay of the second harmonic signal. No measurable decay in optical nonlinearity is observed for one of the photocrosslinked polymers up to temperatures of 160 C for a period of several hours. These results are also confirmed by monitoring the stability of the UV-visible absorption spectrum at these temperatures. Channel waveguides and diffraction gratings have been fabricated using lithographic techniques.