Photostability enhancement of an azobenzene photonic polymer

A. Galvan-Gonzalez (1) , K.D. Belfield (1) , G.I. Stegeman (1) , Michael Canva (2) , Kwok Pong Chan (3) , K. Park (4) , L. Sukhomlinova (4) , R.J. Twieg (4)

1 CREOL - Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers
2 Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Macsybio
3 MOEC - Molecular OptoElectronics Corporation
4 Department of Chemistry

We have found that the presence of a methacrylate group on an azobenzene electro-optic chromophore can provide an enhancement in photostability of up to one or two orders of magnitude. Systematic studies involving the change in chromophore structure and atmospheric environmentindicate that the photostabilization is due to antioxidant action by the unsaturated functional group

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]

A. Galvan-Gonzalez, K.D. Belfield, G.I. Stegeman, Michael Canva, Kwok Pong Chan, et al.. Photostability enhancement of an azobenzene photonic polymer. Applied Physics Letters, 2000, 77 (14), pp.2083-2085. ⟨10.1063/1.1313809⟩. ⟨hal-00668008⟩