PERMANENT OPTICAL POLING IN POLYURETHANE VIA THERMAL CROSS-LINKING

Permanent optical poling was achieved in a crosslinkable system, a pol yurethane with disperse red 19. Thermal stability of light-induced sec ond order susceptibility was investigated for samples poled at differe nt temperatures. The induced susceptibility d(33) of the sample poled at 85 degrees C was measured to be 46 pm/V, and could be stable at tha t poling temperature. Experimentally, it was demonstrated that the che mical crosslinking of the polymer matrix in optical poling procedures resulted in good stability of polar orientation of the nonlinear optic al chromophores. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.