Abstract

Progress towards working polymer-based optoelectronic devices must include progress in chromophore design and characterization. In this work, several dozen organic compounds have been specially designed and synthesized, and their hyperpolarizabilities (β) have been measured by electric field-induced second harmonic generation (EFISH). The compounds were designed not only so that their β values would be sufficient, but also so that they would be thermally stable if incorporated into polymer matrices, and so that they would not absorb too far into the red. Naturally, there are tradeoffs between these characteristics. A simple figure of merit, μβ₀/λ_max (where λ_max is the peak absorption wavelength), is used to account at least in part for the nonlincarity/transparcncy tradeoff. Comparison of the molecular structures of chromophores and well-known thermally robust polymers is used to estimate the thermal stability of both guest/host and chemically bonded systems.

© 1992 Optical Society of America