Thermally crosslinkable second-order nonlinear optical polymer networks: high stability, good transparency, and large second-order nonlinear optical effects

Abstract

A new in situ thermal crosslinking approach was proposed to design second-order nonlinear optical polymer networks through a simple synthetic route, with the combination of the “isolate chromophore” concept. After in situ poling and thermal crosslinking, these networks demonstrated excellent second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) coefficients (d₃₃ value) with good NLO thermal stability (T_80%), in which, T3MA/TS2N₃ had a high d₃₃ value of 222 pm V⁻¹ and a T_80% of 99.7 °C, reaching a high level in the polymers containing simple azo chromophore moieties.