Active organic–inorganic sol gel with high thermal stability for nonlinear optical applications

Abstract

Second-harmonic generation and thermal stability of hybrid photosensitive sol-gel films doped with a side-chain electro-optic chromophore have been studied. Nonlinear optic coefficient $d_{33}$ has been derived for the cross-linked and noncross-linked sol-gel films. The $d_{33}$ of the cross-linked hybrid sol-gel film shows high stability at elevated temperature. No evident degradation in $d_{33}$ was observed at 110 °C and only 20% of $d_{33}$ decayed in 15 min at 180 °C. The results indicate that the film can meet the long-term stability requirement for optical components.