Conductivity of oriented bis-azo polymer films.

The conductivity properties of electro-optic, photoaddressable, dense bis-azo chromophore polymer films are investigated by using samples corona poled at various temperatures. A dielectric spectrometer is applied to measure the frequency dependence of the conductivity at different temperatures before and after heating the material to above the glass transition temperature. The results show that the orientation of the chromophores changes the charge-carrier mobility.

Investigation of chromophore-chromophore interaction by electro-optic measurements, linear dichroism, x-ray scattering, and density-functional calculations.

Free-beam interferometry and angle-resolved absorption spectra are used to investigate the linear electro-optic coefficients and the linear dichroism in photoaddressable bis-azo copolymer thin films. From the first- and second order parameters deduced, the chromophore orientation distribution is calculated and displayed for several poling temperatures and chromophore concentrations. The influence of dipole-dipole interaction on the overall polymer dynamics is discussed.

Large-area Fabry-Perot modulator based on electro-optic polymers.

We present a large-area electro-optic Fabry-Perot modulator utilizing a photoaddressable bis-azo polymer placed between two dielectric mirrors with an open aperture of 2 cm. A modulation efficiency of 1% at an effective modulation voltage of 20 V for a wavelength of 1.55 microm is demonstrated.

Increased thermal stability of a poled electro-optic polymer using high-molar-mass fractions.

Polymer fractionation yields materials with higher average molar masses and thus substantially increased glass transition temperatures. We apply this technique to a photoaddressable polymer that exhibits high electro-optic coefficients, in order to enhance the thermal stability of the poled material. The degree of orientation of the dipolar chromophores is investigated with both pyroelectric and electro-optic measurements.