Photostability and residual red-tail absorption of different chromophore-doped polymers

Michael Canva; A. Galvan-Gonzalez; George I. Stegeman; Robert J. Twieg; P. Chan; Tony C. Kowalczyk; H. Lackritz

doi:10.1117/12.408496

29 November 2000 Photostability and residual red-tail absorption of different chromophore-doped polymers

Michael Canva, A. Galvan-Gonzalez, George I. Stegeman, Robert J. Twieg, P. Chan, Tony C. Kowalczyk, H. Lackritz

Proceedings Volume 4106, Linear, Nonlinear, and Power-Limiting Organics; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.408496
Event: International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, 2000, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

Doped polymers exhibit many attractive features for nonlinear optics. The performance demonstrated with some of these materials appears promising for application in real devices. However, the Achilles' heel of this class of chromophore-doped materials lies most certainly in their relatively modest chemical stability, especially their photostability. Our aim has been to quantify such side- effect phenomenon, systematically linked to the optical use of these materials. Photodegradation is a 2-step process: first, absorption, that may be characterized by (sigma) ((lambda) ), the absorption cross section, and, second, chemical reactivity from the induced excited-states, which may be quantified by B^-1((lambda) ), the overall quantum efficiency of degradation. The photodegradation rate under a photon flux n is thus given by (tau) =B/((sigma) .n). We use the quantity C=B/(sigma) as a material figure of merit for photostability. Given long enough illumination times, C can always be measured. How precisely B is quantified is directly related to how precisely (sigma) is measured, which decreases dramatically as the wavelength of interest is shifted from the main absorption band towards the IR telecommunication spectral windows. Increasing future device lifetimes requires a simultaneous increase in the B parameter and a decrease in the loss due to the residual red-tail absorption. We report the systematic behavior that was found concerning the dependence of C on wavelength.

Citation Download Citation

Michael Canva, A. Galvan-Gonzalez, George I. Stegeman, Robert J. Twieg, P. Chan, Tony C. Kowalczyk, and H. Lackritz "Photostability and residual red-tail absorption of different chromophore-doped polymers", Proc. SPIE 4106, Linear, Nonlinear, and Power-Limiting Organics, (29 November 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.408496

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