Concepedia

Abstract

Opportunities to exploit Langmuir-Blodgett films may emerge as a result of their high non-linear physical coefficients. Two examples are pyroelectricity (for thermal imaging) and second harmonic generation (for optical signal processing applications). In both cases, it is not sufficient for the materials to simply exhibit large non-centrosymmetric effects. Attention must also be paid to those other factors that influence the figure of merit of the device or system; This paper focusses on the prospects of a new class of compounds designed specifically to exhibit stable, non-linear effects. They are based on an ogano-transition metal complex which is combined with a liquid crystal type molecule. Both pyroelectric and non-linear optics data are presented.