Investigation of thermo-optical characteristic of the organic-inorganic hybrid material

The effect of inorganic network on the thermo-optic coefficients (dn/dT) of two kinds of organic-inorganic hybrid materials films prepared by sol-gel process were measured using the prism coupling method. The relationship between the inorganic network structure and the thermo-optic coefficient has been studied. The effect of humidity to the refractive index and the thermo-optic coefficient has also been discussed. The refractive index and vertical bar dn/dT vertical bar of PMMA-SiO2 films increase by water adsorption. As increasing of the proportion of TEOS, the value of dn/dT of PMMA-SiO2 films becomes less negative, and then decreases when more amount of TEOS is added. On the other hand, for the MAPTMS-ZPO hybrid films, dn/dT decreases with increasing of the inorganic network concentration. These results indicate that the thermo-optic characteristics of hybrid materials are closely connected with the microstructure of the materials.