Use of sandwich structures with ZnO:Al transparent electrodes for the measurement of the electro-optic properties of standard and fluorinated poled copolymers at λ = 1.55 μm

We report on the measurement of the electro-optic coefficient r33 of poled polymers at λ = 1.55 μm via the non-linear ellipsometry technique (or Teng and Man technique). Since the measurements rely on the use of sandwich structures with transparent electrodes, different types of aluminium doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) are taken into account in order to ensure transparency at the infrared range wavelength. Results on the disperse red 1/poly-methyl-metacrylate (DR1–PMMA) based side-chain benchmark system, with several different concentrations of active groups from 0.05 to 0.58 molar, are reported and demonstrate the reliability of the technique. The measurement technique was then used to evaluate the r33 coefficient of copolymers derived from DR1–PMMA by partial fluorination (FATRIFE). In this case, we measured copolymers with three concentrations of active groups, 0.30, 0.37 and 0.56 molar.