Thermally stable polymers for application in integrated optics

The bandwidth per unit power of an electro-optic material is inversely proportional to its dielectric constant. In order for a transition to occur, applications requirements for bandwidth will have to become more extreme than they are now, and organic electro-optic materials will have to meet some daunting thermal stability criteria. Here we describe the criteria that we have already met, and how we intend to meet the rest. An electro-optic polymer consists of a dye (chromophore) with a large value of the molecular hyperpolarizability P dispersed in a polymer host and aligned (poled) by an external electric field at a temperature above the host´s glass transition temperature (Tp)