The development of electrooptic devices exploiting second harmonic gen
eration in thin polymer films is hindered by the low stability of the
dipole orientation of the chromophore in the surrounding matrix. New p
olymers (see figure) containing cinnamic acid derivatives as potential
network-forming units, in combination with new synthetic dyes as nonl
inear optical active moieties are presented. The crosslinking leads to
higher stability in the films.