Issues in Organics For Nonlinear Optics

Abstract

The potential of organic materials for nonlinear optics was recognized early with the identification of charge transfer concepts for second order Materials, and π-electron delocalization in conjugated polymers for third order effects.[l,2] Nevertheless, they have not been seriously considered for applications until the past five years over which applications to electro-optics have been vigorously pursued. At this point many of the relevant technological problems for electro-optics have been faced and solved. This progress has been driven by imminent applications in information processing and communications. Frequency conversion, specifically doubling of near infrared lasers into the blue for data storage etc., also relies on the second order nonlinearities. But progress towards efficient doublers has been dominated by other well-established Materials such as KTP and LiNbO3 because of the short time window perceived for applications.[3,4] However, because of the inherently large nonlinearities associated with organic Materials, one would expect that ultimately the most efficient doubling devices could be made from organic Materials.