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. The pyroelectric measurements at elevated temperatures show no significant contribution of beta relaxation as compared to alpha relaxation.