Thermally stable polyester polymers for second-order nonlinear optics

Abstract

We report electro-optic and thermal stability properties of a novel thermostable fluorene-based polyester polymer. The electro-optic coefficient, r33, at 810 nm is 2.6 pm/V for a poling field of 0.5 MV/cm. This value is comparable to that obtained from many reported side-chain polymers. Isothermal decay measurements of the charge transfer absorption band and electro-optic effect demonstrate that the chemical stability of the fluorene molecule appears to dominate over orientational relaxation in the decline of the electro-optic response at elevated temperatures.