Abstract

The polymer, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVF₂), has been primarily investigated because of its applications to transducers.¹ Electrical measurements showed that both PVF₂ and copolymers of PVF₂ with trifluoroethylene(TrFE) are ferroelectric.^2,3 The electro-optic effect in PVF₂ has linear and quadratic components which are related to its dielectric hysteresis.⁴ The spontaneous polarization in PVF₂-TrFE copolymers is larger than in the homopolymer and the dielectric hysteresis is more pronounced. In this study we investigated the electro-optic properties of PVF₂ copolymerized with 32% TrFE. We demonstrate in-phase and out-of-phase intensity modulation with this material.

© 1988 Optical Society of America