Synthesis and optical properties of new fluorinated second-order nonlinear optical copolymers: an attempt toward the balance between solubility and long-term alignment stability

Abstract

A new fluorinated co-polyarylate (P) was synthesized by interfacial polymerization of 1,1-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-phenyl-2,2,2-trifluoroethane (BPAPF) and diphenolic acid (DPA) with isophthaloyl chloride (IPC). P1–P3, containing different concentrations of tricyanofuran (TCF) accepter chromophores, were obtained by the esterification reaction between P and chromophore 1 catalyst by DCC and DPTS. The obtained co-polyarylates were characterized and evaluated by UV-Vis, ¹H NMR, FT-IR, GPC, DSC and TGA. All the co-polyarylates P1–P3 exhibited excellent thermal stability, film forming ability and good electro-optic (EO) activity. The largest r₃₃ value of the copolymers is 52 pm V⁻¹ at the wavelength of 1310 nm, when the concentration of chromophore 1 is 18 wt%.