Preparation and optical properties of sol-gel derived organic-inorganic hybrid waveguide films doped with disperse red 1 azoaromatic chromophores

We report here on TiO(2)/organically modified silane (ormosil) organic-inorganic hybrid waveguide films doped with disperse red 1 (DR1) azoaromatic chromophores and derived by a low-temperature sol-gel process for photonic applications. Acid-catalyzed solutions of gamma-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane and methyltrimethoxysilane mixed with tetrabutyl titanate are used as matrix precursor for the hybrid films. Third-order nonlinear and photo-responsive properties of the hybrid films are studied by using a z-scan technique and a UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. Results indicate that the hybrid films have a large third-order nonlinear susceptibility and an obvious trans-to-cis photoisomerization under UV light irradiation. The planar waveguide and structural properties of the hybrid films are also characterized by a prism coupling technique, thermal gravimetric analysis, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. These results indicate that the as-prepared hybrid films are promising candidates for integrated optics and photonic applications, which allow directly integrating on the same chip waveguide devices with the functionalized devices. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.