Monohydroxy-Hydrazone-Functionalized Thermally Crosslinked Polymers for Nonlinear Optics

The synthesis and properties of six hydrazone-functionalized crosslinked polymers possessing stable nonlinear optics (NLO) properties are presented. First, a series of six hydroxy-functionalized, NLO-active hydrazone chromophores were synthesized. These chromophores were then grafted via its hydroxy functionality on an epoxy polymer to obtain the six NLO-active soluble prepolymers. The grafting reaction yielded multiple secondary hydroxyl sites, which were used for further crosslinking by formulation of the prepolymer with a blocked polyisocyanate crosslinker. This formulation was spin-coated on glass slides to form 2-2.5 μ thick defect-free transparent films. The films were corona-poled above their glass-transition temperatures to align the chromophores in a noncentrosymmetric fashion and were simultaneously cured. The thermal characteristics of the second-order nonlinearity of the six polymers were compared to illustrate the key structure-property relationships underlying the performance of the films in terms of NLO activity and thermal stability.