Fabricating nonlinear optical polymers

Grote JR (1998) Design and fabrication of nonlinear optic polymer integrated optic devices. In Wise DL, Wnek GE, Trantolo DJ, Cooper TM, Gresser JD (eds) Electrical and optical polymer systems. Marcel Dekker, New York, chap 16... 

Inoue, S., Kajikawa, K., and Aoyagi, Y, Dry-etching method for fabricating photonic-crystal waveguides in nonlinear-optical polymers, Appl. Phys. Lett., 82, 2966, 2003. 

Design and Fabrication of Nonlinear Optic Polymer Integrated Optic Devices... 

Before we proceed with specific device designs and fabrication techniques, we need to review the electro-optic properties of nonlinear optical polymers and the physics of electro-optic modulation and directional coupling. 

These materials are compatible with semiconductor technology. Low-oost thin films or waveguiding structures of polymers can be fabricated easily by fomiliar spincoating processes which meet the requirements of integrated nonlinear optics. Polymers and. in particular, side-chain polymers, liquid crystalline or amorphous ones, offer a high potential for molecular engioeering. 

A novel second-order nonlinear optical medium which should offer considerable fabrication flexibility has been described. The physics of alignment of the highly nonlinearly polarizable moiety was discussed. However, observation of complex dynamical and thermal behavior indicates that an important role is played by the polymer liquid crystalline host. Additional properties of modified members of this family of lc polymers were consequently investigated. The explanations of guest alignment stabilization and thermal dependence of the alignability remain unresolved issues. 

Nagamura describes in Chapter 9 the fabrication and properties of supramolecular and polymeric systems that display unique linear and nonlinear optical response. Such materials may find application in high-density information processing systems of the future. Chapter 10, by Shinkai and James, describes the properties of supramolecular photoswitchable ion receptors. Finally, in Chapter 11, Ishikawa and Ye discuss the application of state-of-the art fluorescence methods to explore the properties of polymers with nm-scale resolution. 

The potential application of organic and polymeric materials, especially glassy polymers, is promising as evidenced by the pertinent material properties. A model nonlinear optical glassy polymer system, combining the large nonlinear susceptibilities of the dopant and favorable optical properties of the host polymer glass, was fabricated and evaluated. The nonlinear optical... 

Second order, polyazomethine possesses both donor and acceptor groups at the molecular level, which when aligned gives a poled polymer. Tatsuura et al. fabricated an as-deposited poled polymer film by applying anin-situ electric field during CVD and reported on the second order nonlinear optical properties of the obtained film. The polymer film refractive index was reported to be about 1.68 at 632.8 nm. Second order NLO susceptability, p, was found to be... 

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