Abstract

It was shown recently that the application of a dc field across a polymer film containing polar azo dye chromophores at a temperature far below that of its glass transition leads to an appreciable polar order when the azo dyes undergo cis ⇔ trans isomerization. We present a detailed theoretical study of this phenomenon based on the enhanced mobility of the azo chromophores during the isomerization process. The equations representing this phenomenological theory are solved by recurrence relations of Legendre polynomials, and both the steady state and the dynamics are investigated. Analytical expressions are derived for the photoinduced polar order and its related anisotropy for both cis and trans molecular distributions.

© 1995 Optical Society of America

Light-induced orientation in a high glass transition temperature polyimide with polar azo dyes in the side chain

Zouheir Sekkat, Jonathan Wood, Emil F. Aust, Wolfgang Knoll, Willi Volksen, and Robert D. Miller
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 13(8) 1713-1724 (1996)

Correlation between polymer architecture and sub-glass-transition-temperature light-induced molecular movement in azo-polyimide polymers: influence on linear and second- and third-order nonlinear optical processes

Zouheir Sekkat, Philippe Prêtre, André Knoesen, Willie Volksen, Victor Y. Lee, Robert D. Miller, Jonathan Wood, and Wolfgang Knoll
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 15(1) 401-413 (1998)

Two-photon assisted poling

Zouheir Sekkat
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 27(1) 132-140 (2010)

Light-induced orientation in azo-polyimide polymers 325 °C below the glass transition temperature

Zouheir Sekkat, Jonathan Wood, Wolfgang Knoll, Willi Volksen, Robert D. Miller, and André Knoesen
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 14(4) 829-833 (1997)

Optically induced anisotropy of third-order susceptibility in azo-dye polymers

Victor M. Churikov and Chia-Chen Hsu
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 18(11) 1722-1731 (2001)