AN ORGANIC MOLECULAR SYSTEM FOR NONLINEAR OPTICS

APPLICATIONS OF NONLINEAR OPTICAL (NLO) MATERIALS TO TECHNOLOGIES SUCH AS OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING, SWITCHING AND COMPUTING SYSTEMS, HAS BEEN INTENSIVELY STUDIED DURING THE LAST DECADE. STILL, THE LACK OF NLO MATERIALS WITH ENHANCED SECOND AND THIRD ORDER SUSCEPTIBILITY LIMITS DEVELOPMENT OF THESE APPLICATIONS. ORGANIC NLO MATERIALS ARE OFTEN CITED AS HAVING THE BEST LONG-RANGE PROMISE FOR NLO DEVICES, SINCE THEY HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTALLY PROVEN TO OUTPERFORM INORGANIC MATERIALS IN SEVERAL ASPECTS: LARGER NONLINEARITIES, FASTER RESPONSE TIME, AND BETTER COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER LINEAR OPTICAL MATERIALS. SPIRE PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A NEW FAMILY OF ORGANIC/POLYMERIC NLOMATERIALS WITH LARGER OPTICAL NONLINEARITIES THAN ARE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE. THE NONLINEAR PROPERTIES OF THE MATERIALS WILL BE IMPROVED BY INCREASING THE DIPOLE MOMENTS OF THE OPTICALLY ACTIVE MOLECULES. THE NEW MATERIALS, BASED ON 2-METHYL-4-NITROANILINE (MNA), WILL BE SYNTHESIZED BY APPROPRIATELY SUBSTITUTING ELECTRON-DONOR AND ELECTRON-ACCEPTORGROUPS INTO TWO BENZENE RINGS AND LINKING THE BENZENE BY AZOMETHINE BRIDGING. THE AVAILABILITY OF SEVERAL PROMISING ELECTRON-DONORS AND ELECTRON-ACCEPTORS WILL LEAD TO THE SYNTHESIS OF A VARIETY OF NEW NLO MATERIALS. SUCCESSFUL PHASE I DEMONSTRATION OF THE NEW MATERIALS WILL LEAD TO A PHASE II PROGRAM IN WHICH REAL DEVICE TYPES, SUCH AS NLO FIBERS AND OPTICAL MODULATORS, WILL BE BUILT AND EVALUATED. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - ORGANIC NLO MATERIALS WITH ENHANCED SECOND AND THIRD ORDER SUSCEPTIBILITY COULD LEAD TO DEVELOPMENT OF DEVICES FOR OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING, OPTICAL