MACH-ZEHNDER INTERFEROMETER MEASUREMENT OF THE POCKELS EFFECT IN A POLED POLYMER FILM WITH A COPLANAR ELECTRODE STRUCTURE

Mach-Zehnder interferometry was used to measure the Pockels effect in a poled electro-optic polymer thin film with a coplanar electrode stru cture. The beam at the sample arm of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer p assed through a polymer thin film which had been spin-coated on top of a clear gap between two electrodes patterned on an optical substrate. This unique optical geometry enabled the Pockels coefficients of the poled electro-optic polymer film in the directions of the ordinary and the extraordinary optic axes to be determined independently. As an ex ample, the tensor ratio r(33)/r(13) for a stilbene-dye-doped polyimide guest/host polymer film was determined experimentally; the ratio turn ed out to be 4.6, which was higher than the value of 3 predicted by th e thermodynamic model. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.