Optical third-harmonic generation of poly(2-trimethylsilyl-1,4-phenylenevinylene) and poly[2,5-bis(trimethylsilyl)-1,4-phenylenevinylene]

Silicon atom substituted new PPV derivatives, poly(2-trimethylsilyl-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (TMS-PPV) and poly[2,5-bis(trimethylsilyl)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (BTMS-PPV) were synthesized through water-soluble precursor route. The third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities, χ(3) (−3ω;ω,ω,ω), were determined by third-harmonic generation measurement technique at 1907 nm, fundamental wavelength. The measured χ(3) values of PPV, TMS-PPV and BTMS-PPV were 3 × 10−12 esu, 3 × 10−12 esu and 4 × 10−12 esu, respectively.