Optical properties of films of polycarbazolyldiacetylene PDCHD-HS for photonic applications

Spun films of polycarbazolyldiacetylene polyDCHD-HS were prepared from toluene solutions with a thickness ranging from 9 nm up to 3.6 μm. Thicker films were characterized as waveguides at 849 and 1321 nm; 5 dB/cm propagation losses were measured at 1321 nm. The off-resonance third-order nonlinearity of ultra-thin samples (9–14 nm) was measured at 1064 nm with picosecond pulses and using surface plasmon spectroscopy. The very large value χ(3)=4.4×10−17 m2/V2 was detected for the real part of the third-order susceptibility.