Optical properties of push-pull azo groups covalently bonded to a silica-gel matrix

Frederic Chaput; Jean-Pierre Boilot; Didier Riehl; Yves Levy

doi:10.1117/12.188962

13 October 1994 Optical properties of push-pull azo groups covalently bonded to a silica-gel matrix

Frederic Chaput, Jean-Pierre Boilot, Didier Riehl, Yves Levy

Proceedings Volume 2288, Sol-Gel Optics III; (1994) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.188962
Event: SPIE's 1994 International Symposium on Optics, Imaging, and Instrumentation, 1994, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

The sol-gel synthesis of organic-inorganic composite materials with push pull azobenzene molecules covalently bonded to the silica matrix is used for fabricating low cost optical channel waveguides for integrated optics applications and optical information storage. The refractive index change is obtained through the orientation of the nonlinear active molecules induced by a trans-cis-trans photoisomerization process. The index change and anisotropy are created by illuminating the thin film at a wavelength located inside the absorption band of the chromophores. At short irradiation times, the induced birefringence and dichroism are the consequence of the usual reorientation phenomenon due to the trans-cis-trans isomerization. At long pumping times, a photobleaching is observed corresponding to an irreversible transformation in the silica matrix. This property is used to write channel waveguides and gratings.

Citation Download Citation

Frederic Chaput, Jean-Pierre Boilot, Didier Riehl, and Yves Levy "Optical properties of push-pull azo groups covalently bonded to a silica-gel matrix", Proc. SPIE 2288, Sol-Gel Optics III, (13 October 1994); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.188962

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