Retardation of the orientation relaxation of azo-dye doped amorphous polymers upon photoinduced isomerization

S. W. Chan; A. Quatela; M. Casalboni; J.-M. Nunzi

doi:10.1117/12.679755

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14 September 2006 Retardation of the orientation relaxation of azo-dye doped amorphous polymers upon photoinduced isomerization

S. W. Chan, A. Quatela, M. Casalboni, J.-M. Nunzi

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Proceedings Volume 6331, Linear and Nonlinear Optics of Organic Materials VI; 633110 (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.679755
Event: SPIE Optics + Photonics, 2006, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The orientation relaxation upon photo-induced isomerization of azo-dyes was studied. All-optical poling (AOP) and photo-induced birefringence, which are based on the mechanism of angular selective photo-isomerization, were employed to manipulate the angular distribution of azo-dyes (Disperse-red 1) doped in three different amorphous polymers: (poly(methyl methacrylate) PMMA, poly(carbonate) PC and poly(sulfone) PSU), with different glass transition temperature (T_g). In the case of AOP, quasi-permanent macroscopic second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility χ⁽²⁾ was inscribed in the dye-doped centro-symmetric polymer systems, while in the case of photo-induced birefringence, quasi-permanent birefringence Δn was inscribed in the dye-doped isotropic polymer systems. Relaxation of χ⁽²⁾ and Δn were monitored upon different duration of AOP and photo-induced birefringence preparation. Experimental results show that azo-dye orientation relaxation follows the duration of the photo-nduced isomerization process: the longer the photo-induced isomerization process, the slower the relaxation of the inscribed χ⁽²⁾ and Δn. In addition, retardation of the orientation relaxation does not follow a simple relation with hardness (T_g) of the polymer host. Causes of the orientation relaxation retardation are discussed.

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S. W. Chan, A. Quatela, M. Casalboni, and J.-M. Nunzi "Retardation of the orientation relaxation of azo-dye doped amorphous polymers upon photoinduced isomerization", Proc. SPIE 6331, Linear and Nonlinear Optics of Organic Materials VI, 633110 (14 September 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.679755

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