ENHANCED CHROMOPHORE POLYMERIC NLO MATERIALS

NONLINEAR OPTICAL MATERIALS ARE REQUIRED FOR A VARIETY OF POTENTIAL AIR FORCE APPLICATIONS INCLUDING OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING (SWITCHES, MODULATORS, AND GUIDED WAVE DEVICES), AND NEW LASER SOURCES (OPTICAL PARAMETRIC OSCILLATORS AND HARMONIC GENERATORS). HOWEVER, PRESENTLY AVAILABLE MATERIALS ARE UNSATISFACTORY FOR MANY APPLICATIONS DUE TO SMALL NONLINEARITIES, POOR OPTICAL CLARITY, LONG RESPONSES TIMES, DIFFICULTY IN PROCESSING FOR DEVICES, AND OTHER FACTORS. PROPOSED EFFORTS ADDRESS MATERIAL ISSUES FOR AMORPHOUS POLYMER MATERIALS IN THIN FILM FORMS. AMORPHOUS POLYMERS IN WHICH MOLECULAR CHROMOPHORE CONSTITUENTS HAVE BEEN ALIGNED WITH A STRONG ELECTRIC FIELD (POLED) REPRESENT A PROMISING APPROACH TO MATERIALS WITH LARGE SECOND-ORDER OPTICAL NONLINEARITIES. SUCH MATERIALS COMBINE THE PROCESSABILITY, MECHANICAL STRENGTH, AND TYPICALLY EXCELLENT TRANSPARENCY CHARACTERISTICS OF GLASSY ORGANIC POLYMERS WITH THE ALMOST INFINATE MOLECULAR TAILORABILITY AND HIGH INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUES FOR PREPARING NEW MATERIALS OR FOR IMPROVING THE GROWTH OR PROCESSING OF KNOWN MATERIALS WILL BE INVESTIGATED. NLO MATERIAL DEVELOPED IN THE NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY IS IN HIGH DEMAND AND WILL BE SYNTHESIZED FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS. NONLINEAR OPTICAL MATERIALS WILL BE EXAMINED ONLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF EVALUATING AND DEMONSTRATING THE PROPERTIES OF THE MATERIAL(S). PHASE I OF THIS PROGRAM WOULD DEMONSTRATE THE PROPOSED GROWTH OR PROCESSING TECHNIQUES AND POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS. PHASE II WILL DEVELOP ADVANCED NONLINEAR MATERIALS AND RELEVANT PROCESSES TO DEMONSTRATE POTENTIAL. IN PHASE II, ADVANCED NONLINEAR OPTICAL MATERIALS WILL BE OPTIMIZED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS.