Nanostructured Ionically Self-Assembled Monolayer Films for Electro-Optic Applications

"This Small Business Innovative Research Phase I project will demonstrate the enhanced second order nonlinear properties of electro-optic thin films fabricated by the ionically self-assembled monolayer (ISAM) technology. This revolutionary method ofcreating multifunctional thin-films monolayer by monolayer has been proven to yield self-assembled, electronically and photonically active polymeric thin films. Luna Innovations and its research partners have previously demonstrated that the ISAM techniquecan be used to fabricate noncentrosymmetric electro-optic polymer films. In particular, we have previously shown that the ionic nature of the deposition process results in a polar ordering of organic second order nonlinear chromophores that requires noadditional processing after creation of the film and exhibits inherent long-term stability, in contrast to nonlinear optical poled polymers. Here, we propose that a greater than order of magnitude enhancement in the c(2) of ISAM thin films is made possiblethrough the use of multi-ionic chromophore molecules rather than side-chain polymers. The ISAM process allows precise molecular level control over the assembly of an electro-optic thin film with exceptional homogeneity and ease of processing. ISAMnonlinear optical films offer additional major advantages of excellent homogeneity for low scattering loss, high thermal and chemical stability, simplicity and low-cost. ISAM electro-optic thin film