Lifetime of electro-optic polymeric devices

Polymeric materials are promising for use in various optical devices. However, the lifetime of chromophore-doped polymeric optical devices is limited by the photodegradation of the active chromophore that provides the material system its useful optical properties. The term photodegradation covers the chemical transformation that occurs in the dyes while in the excited state or during relaxation, following photon absorption. Such transformation leads to the creation of new species, generally optically inactive, and decreases the concentration of the active chromophore, lowering the material and device efficiencies. One can model the rate of the transformation by introducing the quantum efficiency of the degradation reaction, B^-1 . Thus B is the average number of excitation cycles a given chromophore, in given conditions, can undergo before becoming inactive. In order to determine new classes of chromophore doped polymer materials fulfilling these requirements, it is necessary to quantify the impact that different parameters, such as different chromophores, polymer matrix structures, and external physical conditions, have on this B value. We are accomplishing this goal by systematically characterizing the photostability of different electro-optic dye-doped polymer materials