Title

Polymeric materials for optical parametric mixing devices at telecommunications wavelengths

Keywords

Bleaching; Chromophores; Modal dispersion phase matching - MDPM; Optical propagation losses; Phase matching techniques; Poling; Polymers; Quadratic optical nonlinearities; Quasi-phase matching - QPM; Second harmonic generation - SHG; Waveguides

Abstract

Optically transparent polymers are being aggressively investigated worldwide for a variety of photonics applications and the progress in various areas has already made their performance equivalent or superior to that of more established materials. Still in the fundamental research arena, polymers doped with partially oriented chromophores are useful for electro-optic modulators and frequency conversion. Although polymer-based modulators have already surpassed ferroelectric materials, at least in bandwidth, the situation is at a much earlier evolutionary stage for frequency conversion where polymers can exhibit very interesting trade-offs between their nonlinear optical and absorption coefficients in the near IR. That, and many other reasons, makes them ideal candidates for use in potential alloptical devices at telecommunications wavelengths. After just a few years, poled polymers are already competitive for frequency conversion, at least in terms of figure of merit, with ferroelectric media such as LiNbO3 which have reached their theoretical optimum after 20 years of development. However, theoretical expectations favor polymer systems provided that certain material requirements can be satisfied. Here we discuss our progress in this area and outline the challenges that must be overcome for success.

Publication Date

12-1-1998

Publication Title

Polymer News

Volume

23

Issue

3

Number of Pages

78-91

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

Socpus ID

0032027545 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/0032027545

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