Abstract

In electro-optic thin film samples, two configurations of electrodes are commonly adopted for the electric field poling, parallel and coplanar. In the parallel-plate configuration, electro-optic (EO) polymer is sandwiched between two thin electrode plates on top of a substrate. Because the size of electrodes is larger than the polymer thin film thickness, the electric field distribution is almost uniform inside the polymer film between the top and bottom electrodes. In the coplanar electrode structure, two thin separate electrodes with a narrow gap in between them are deposited on top of substrate, and EO polymer film is spin coated. Here the film covers both electrodes and the dc poling and EO effect measuring fields pass through and above the film making the electric field distribution complicated. Furthermore the electric field lines have different shapes for different thickness of thin films, since the dielectric constant of polymer films is different from that of the air.

© 1995 Optical Society of America