ABSTRACT
Introduction e large potential market for electrooptic materials and devices for high speed data transfer, either as part of telecommunications or CATV networks or within computer backplanes, has prompted eorts towards the synthesis, processing and evaluation of new organic nonlinear optical (NLO) materials. Such devices would operate through the linear electrooptic eect that requires noncentrosymmetry on both molecular and macroscopic scales. Stability of the noncentrosymmetric poled state is one of many requirements placed on these materials; other requirements include suitable and stable refractive indices for core and cladding, thermal stability as high as 350 ºC, electrooptic coecients greater than 30 pm/V, suitable electrical resistivity in both the core and cladding for ecient poling, and excellent optical transparency (losses < 0.3 dB/cm) at operating wavelengths. Simultaneous attainment of all these parameters has proved extremely dicult. Because organic NLO dyes are often the limiting factor in the ultimate thermal stability of a NLO material, a promising approach to improved materials is through the synthesis of new dyes.
