KEY TRADE-OFFS FOR 2ND-HARMONIC GENERATION IN POLED POLYMERS

We discuss the critical trade-off between the spectral dispersion in t he second order nonlinearity d((2)) and the linear absorption coeffici ent for second harmonic generation (SHG) by the mixing of copropagatin g or counterpropagating fundamental beams in poled polymers. The 4-dim ethylamino-4'-nitrostilbene side-chain polymer is used as a specific e xample. The predictive power of the classical two-level model for SHG is also assessed. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.