Evaluation of Optical Characteristics in Electro-Optic Chromophores Designed for Applications at O-Band

Herein, lots of electro-optic (EO) chromophores designed for applications at O-band are synthesized, and the first hyperpolarizability & beta; of EO chromophores is evaluated by the hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS) technique. EO chromophores are constituted of various tricyanofuran (TCF) derivatives as the electron acceptor unit, thienyl-di-vinylene or thienyl-di-vinylene with ethylenedioxy as the & pi;-conjugation unit, and aminobenzene with a benzyloxy group as the donor unit. Halogen phenyl group or trifluoromethyl-phenyl group in TCF acceptor unit leads to a relatively large improvement in & beta; values. Furthermore, EO polymers with some promising EO chromophores that are suitable for the applications at O-band (1260-1360 nm) are synthesized, and EO coefficient r(33) (or n(3)r(33)) and absorption loss & alpha; are evaluated. Considering the trade-off relationship between r(33) (or n(3)r(33)) and & alpha;, EO polymers with excellent EO chromophores in the C-band (1530-1565 nm) are not necessarily suitable EO polymers in the O-band (1260-1360 nm). EO polymers with the O-band chromophores have small & alpha; and moderate r(33) (or n(3)r(33)) at the O-band, while EO polymers with the C-band chromophores have large & alpha; and slightly modified r(33) (or n(3)r(33)) at the O-band. The development of suitable EO chromophores and polymers for O-band and C-band respectively is very important.