ADVANCES IN MAIN-CHAIN NONLINEAR-OPTICAL POLYMERS

Solution and solid state nuclear magnetic resonance were used to study a mainchain syndioregic polycyanocinnamamide. Photooxidation at elevated temperatures has been identified as the cause of previously unexplained low d(33) measurements of this polymer. Corona poling in the dark was shown to give much better results. The electrooptical coefficient (r(33)) of this cyanocinnamamide polymer was measured in a Mach-Zehnder intensity modulator. Several new mainchain syndioregic polymers were synthesized and characterized. Preliminary d(33) measurements were performed on one promising polymer and were found to be close to the value calculated using a simple semi-empirical procedure.