Organic Self-Assembled Thin Films for Second Order Nonlinear Optics (2004)

With a growing demand in industry for cost effective, increased data handling capabilities great attention has been paid to the study of various polymer systems for use in optical telecommunications. Inorganic crystals, currently used in such systems, have high performance, but are more expensive and less obtainable than organic materials. Recent advances in techniques for developing highly efficient and inexpensive organic polymeric electro-optic (EO) devices compatible with current state-of-the-art electronics have created an interest in the commercialization of such electro-optic devices. In light of the many advantages of utilizing organic materials for electro-optic applications, numerous methods have been developed to produce nonlinear optically (NLO)-active polymeric films for such purposes. Ionic self-assembled multilayer (ISAM) films are a recently developed class of materials that allows detailed structural and thickness control at the molecular level, combined with ease of manufacturing and low cost. However, the layer-by-layer deposition technique utilized for this method currently requires lengthy processing times that challenge the feasibility of fabricating a thick film suitable for EO modulator device fabrication. This study focuses on addressing the influence of several pertinent processing variables affecting these challenges for application to electro-optic device fabrication. This study investigated (1) the effect of forced convection, varying deposition time and varying dye concentration on the properties of PAH/Procion Brown films fabricated via the hybrid reactive deposition scheme, (2) the automation and optimization of the fabrication of thick NLO active films and (3) the use of the hybrid covalent-electrostatic deposition scheme to fabricate a polymeric waveguide device with an electro-optic coefficient comparable to that of lithium niobate (LiNbO₃). At fixed deposition time and concentration conditions, the presence of convection had little demonstrated effect on films with deposition times shorter than 2 minutes. For the 5 minute case, the presence of convection correlated with a ~45% increase in Ï (2)zzz values values and a 25% increase in absorbance per bilayer. At a constant dye concentration of 5 mg/ml, the deposition time had little effect on SHG for deposition times less than two minutes. In the presence of convection, the increase in deposition time from 2 minutes to 5 minutes showed a 57% increase in Ï (2)zzz values and a 30% increase in absorbance per bilayer. For a deposition time of 2 minutes in the presence of convection, the dye solution concentration was successfully reduced 5-fold (from 5 mg/ml to 1 mg/ml) with less than a 5% difference in Ï (2)zzz values, less than a 15% decrease in absorbance per bilayer and no detriment to film quality. These results strongly indicate that the deposition conditions remain well outside of the transport-limited regime at a dye concentration of 1 mg/ml. Rather, the surface reaction rate apparently is controlling. Depositing slides at an elevated temperature (~35°C), had an undetermined effect on Ï (2)zzz values, but showed a 15% increase in absorbance per bilayer. An automatic dipper was programmed to replicate the current manual deposition method to fabricate a film suitable for EO modulator devices. Utilizing the optimal conditions for the processing variables, an optically-homogeneous, 100 nm-thick film was fabricated utilizing the automated process, yielding a Ï (2)zzz values~ 23 x 10⁻⁹ esu. A three-layer coplanar electro-optic device was fabricated utilizing the hybrid reactive deposition method. For this device, the presence of added salt was found to increase the electro-optic coefficient r33 by a factor of 3 compared to its value when made with no added salt. The electro-optic coefficient of the added salt case was found to be about 1/2 that of lithium niobate (LiNbO3).