Abstract

Fundamental studies of organic materials are being carried out in order to assess those properties relevant to potential switching devices. To this end, the electronic third-order nonlinear optical properties of several polydiacetylene compounds, with band gaps in the 1.88 - 2.1eV range, have been investigated. Samples of poly-(docosa-10, 12-diyne-1, 22-diol) butoxy carbonyl -methylurethane, poly-(decan-4,6- diyne-l, 10-diol) methylbenzyl-urethane, and poly-(docosa-10, 12-diyne-1, 22-diol) methylbenzyl-urethane, hereafter abbreviated to 9- BCMU, 3-SMBU and 9-RMBU respectively, were prepared in thin-film form and used to study the spectral trends in third-order nonlinear response. Using degenerate four wave mixing and excite-probe techniques, the refractive and absorptive parts of χ⁽³⁾ for these samples have been established for the resonant and near-resonant cases.

© 1992 IQEC