Development of Polymeric Nonlinear Optical Material

Abstract

The molecular structural characteristics which give rise to large optical nonlinearities have been delineated. This has been accomplished by several key steps and has led to the development of a structural algorithm for the design of β molecules with high susceptibilities. High activity molecular units have been covalently attached to form polymers which can contain up to 100% of the NLO moiety, and the resulting molecular optical properties have been characterized. The second order molecular susceptibility was found to be undiminished by properly designed covalent bonding to form a polymer, and spectral characteristics were found to closely follow that of the NLO unit.