Rotational Diffusion of Chromophores Inside a Glassy Polymeric Film Studied By Electrooptical Interferometry

Abstract

ABSTRACTPerot Fabry interferometry under oblique incidence provides a powerful tool for the determination of the complex values of the independant components of the tensors χ2(−ω;ω,ο) and χ3(−ω;ω,ο,ο) of poled films. Deorientation of Disperse Red One chromophore in a poled film can be followed by the decrease with time of two order parameters. In the short term regime, the relaxation times of this process are spread over a broad spectrum. By comparing the chromophore dynamics in PMMA, PS and SAN at different temperatures, it appears that free volume and secondary transition concepts cannot fully explain the chromophore behavior. Chromophore dipole/Polymer dipole interactions are invoked in order to explain the slow deorientation rate in SAN.