Optical properties and waveguiding in films of a nonlinear polymer: difluorophenyl-polydiphenylenevinylene (DFP-PDPV)

Anna Samoc; Barry Luther-Davies; Marek Samoc; Heike Liebegott; Regina Stockmann; Hans-Heinrich Hoerhold

doi:10.1117/12.370317

12 November 1999 Optical properties and waveguiding in films of a nonlinear polymer: difluorophenyl-polydiphenylenevinylene (DFP-PDPV)

Anna Samoc, Barry Luther-Davies, Marek Samoc, Heike Liebegott, Regina Stockmann, Hans-Heinrich Hoerhold

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Proceedings Volume 3896, Design, Fabrication, and Characterization of Photonic Devices; (1999) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.370317
Event: International Symposium on Photonics and Applications, 1999, Singapore, Singapore

Abstract

Third-order optically nonlinear polymeric material built of rigid-rod molecules are often insoluble and transmit visible light poorly. We report on optical and waveguiding properties of a new soluble derivative of PPV: a π- conjugated polymer DFP-PDPV. We found that solvents used for processing of the DFP-PDPV polymer may influence the film optical properties. Changes in absorption spectra, birefringence, optical attenuation and the nonlinear refractive index were observed in the films made by spin coating and solution cast using different solvents. The films are birefringent and dispersive. Refractive indices vary from 1.76 to 1.63 for the TE polarisation of the incident light and from 1.70 to 1.60 for the TM polarisation for wavelengths from 476.5 nm to 1.55μ, respectively. The birefringence is an order ofmagnitude lower than that in films ofunsubstituted PPV. DFP-PDPV is suitable for fabrication of optical waveguides. Low loss waveguiding layers could be prepared. Propagation losses were measured at 632.8nm, 8lOnm and 1064nm. The losses decrease at longer wavelengths reaching the level of 1 dB/cm at 1.06μ. The waveguiding properties of DFP-PDPV films depend on the solvents used in processing of the polymer. We investigated thin films of DFP-PDPV for their potential for nonlinear waveguide applications. The modulus of nonlinear refractive index |n₂| in the range (0.9-1.5) x10^-14 cm²/W was measured in DFP-PDPV films at 8OOnm using a femtosecond degenerate four wave mixing (DFWM) technique. These studies supplement the results of nonlinear optical studies of this polymer in solution using the Z-scan technique described in Proceedings of SPIE 3473, 79-90 (1998).

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Anna Samoc, Barry Luther-Davies, Marek Samoc, Heike Liebegott, Regina Stockmann, and Hans-Heinrich Hoerhold "Optical properties and waveguiding in films of a nonlinear polymer: difluorophenyl-polydiphenylenevinylene (DFP-PDPV)", Proc. SPIE 3896, Design, Fabrication, and Characterization of Photonic Devices, (12 November 1999); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.370317

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KEYWORDS

Polymers

Refractive index

Polymer thin films

Absorption

Nonlinear optics

Molecules

Waveguides

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