Abstract

Polymers with polymethyl acrylate backbone and pendant nonlinear optical (NLO) side groups with azomethine linkage¹ have been synthesized. The concentration of the NLO active moieties is varied by preparing copolymers in which the comonomer is methyl methacrylate. The thermal behavior of these polymers has been characterized by using differential scanning calorimetry. The linear optical properties, such as absorption and refractive index, have been measured. Thin-film slab waveguides of the polymer on glass and silicon/SiO₂ substrates have been fabricated with losses less than 1 cm^-1. Second-order nonlinear susceptibility (d₃₃) of corona-poled films has been measured by second-harmonic generation from 1.06 μm laser radiation. The temporal stability of the induced second-order susceptibility has been investigated, and compared with the stability of cross-linkable² polymer-host systems.

© 1990 Optical Society of America