Abstract

A new polymer p-NAn-PVA illustrated in Fig. 1 was developed by N. Ogata et al.¹⁾ for implementing second-order nonlinear-optic (NLO) devices. p-NA (p-Nitroaniline) is introduced as side-chain to PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol) main-chain via acetal-linkage, and second-order NLO effects emerge by electric-field induced side-chain alignment (poling). This polymer has some attractive features besides fabrication easiness. Large NLO susceptibility is expected since p-NA has large polarizability and is highly doped (x=0.82), and the relaxation is small in comparison with dispersive type NLO polymers because of the high glass-transition-temperature resulting from the acetal-linkage. In this paper, we report the fabrication and characterization of p-NAn-PVA waveguide and an application to electrooptic (EO) grating switch. The EO effects originate from second-order NLO susceptibility, and EO devices are one of important applications of such NLO polymer waveguides as well as wavelength converters.

© 1991 Optical Society of America