Low (Sub-1-volt) halfwave voltage polymeric electro-optic modulators achieved by controlling chromophore shape

DFT STUDY ON SECOND-ORDER NONLINEAR OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE DERIVATIVES OF DISUBSTITUTED SEVEN-VERTEX COBALTACARBORANE METALLOCENYL

DFT B3LYP method was employed to calculate the second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) responses of the derivatives of disubstituted seven-vertex cobaltacarborane metallocenyl. The results show that cobaltacarborane metallocenyl plays a pushing/pulling role and a bridge role to transfer electron in these molecules. The five-membered ring of cyclopentadiene is more beneficial to increase second-order NLO response than the five-membered ring composed of two C atoms and three B atoms in cobaltacarborane. Moreover, the second-order NLO response is more powerful when one substituent containing electron donor group and one substituent containing electron acceptor group are located at meta position. Accordingly, among the nine models, model c2 is the optimum model with largest value of βtot. The calculation results also show that cobaltacarborane metallocenyl and ferrocene parts play the same roles to increase second-order NLO response. Thus, cobaltacarborane metallocenyl can be a promising second-order NLO material.

Solvent dependence of structure, charge distribution, and absorption spectrum in the photochromic merocyanine-spiropyran pair

We have studied the structures and absorption spectra of merocyanine, the photoresponsive isomer of the spiropyran (SP)-merocyanine (MC) pair, in chloroform and in water solvents using a combined hybrid QM/MM Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics (CP-QM/MM) and ZINDO approach. We report remarkable differences in the molecular structure and charge distribution of MC between the two solvents; the molecular structure of MC remains in neutral form in chloroform while it becomes charge-separated, zwitterionic, in water. The dipole moment of MC in water is about 50% larger than in chloroform, while the value for SP in water is in between, suggesting that the solvent is more influential than the conformation itself in deciding the dipole moment for the merocyanine-spiropyran pair. The calculations could reproduce the experimentally reported blue shift in the absorption spectra of MC when going from the nonpolar to the polar solvent, though the actual value of the absorption maximum is overestimated in chloroform solvent. We find that the CP-QM/MM approach is appropriate for structure modeling of solvatochromic and thermochromic molecules as this approach is able to capture the solvent and thermal-induced structural changes within the solute important for an accurate assessment of the properties.

Effective in-device r33 of 735 pm/V on electro-optic polymer infiltrated silicon photonic crystal slot waveguides

We design and fabricate a 320 nm slot for an electro-optic (E-O) polymer infiltrated silicon photonic crystal waveguide. Because of the large slot width, the poling efficiency of the infiltrated E-O polymer (AJCKL1/amorphous polycarbonate) is significantly improved. When coupled with the slow light effect from the silicon photonic crystal waveguide, an effective in-device r(33) of 735 pm/V, which to our knowledge is a record high, is demonstrated, which is ten times higher than the E-O coefficient achieved in thin film material. Because of this ultrahigh E-O efficiency, the V(π)L of the device is only 0.44 V mm, which is to our knowledge the best result of all E-O polymer modulators.

Intramolecular charge delocalization and nonlinear optical properties of push-pull chromophore 1-(4-N,N-dimethylaminopyridinium) acetic acid bromide monohydrate from vibrational spectra

FT-Raman and FT-IR spectra of the nonlinear optical crystal 1-(4-N,N-dimethylaminopyridinium) acetic acid bromide monohydrate have been recorded and analyzed. The equilibrium geometry, vibrational wavenumbers and the first order hyperpolarizability of the crystal have been calculated with the help of density functional theory computations. The assignments of the vibrational spectra have been carried out with the help of Scaled Quantum Mechanic force field theory. Optimized geometry gives the charge transfer interaction of the pyridine ring and the amino group in the electron-donor side of the nonlinear optic chromophore. Electron-phonon coupling and O-H⋯O interactions in making the molecule nonlinear optical active have been analyzed based on the vibrational spectral features. The Natural Bond Orbital analysis confirms the occurrence of strong intermolecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonding.

Salts of aromatic amines: crystal structures, spectroscopic and non-linear optical properties

Crystal structures, spectroscopic and NLO properties of 8 novel organic salts with aromatic amines, i.e. tyrammonium iodide (1), tyrammonium benzene-1,2,4-tricarboxilate (2), octopammonium 5-sulfosalicylate monohydrate (3), octopammonium hydrogen squarate (4), dopammonium 5-sulfosalicylate dihydrate (5), ephedrinium mandelate (6), dopammonium hydrogen squarate (7) and bis(ephedrinium) squarate (8) are reported and discussed with a view of their application in optical technologies. The conformations of the cations of the aromatic amines are discussed comparing the experimental and theoretical data.

Ultra-low voltage, ultra-small mode volume silicon microring modulator

We show GHz modulation in a 2.5 microm radius silicon micro-ring, with only 150 mV peak-peak drive voltage and an electro-optic modal volume of only 2 microm(3). The swing voltage and the micro-ring modulator are the smallest demonstrations so-far in silicon. The presented approach lays the ground work for a new class of high speed low voltage modulators enabling, seamless integration of nanophotonics with low voltage digital CMOS nano-electronics.

Design of transmission line driven slot waveguide Mach-Zehnder interferometers and application to analog optical links

Slot waveguides allow joint confinement of the driving electrical radio frequency field and of the optical waveguide mode in a narrow slot, allowing for highly efficient polymer based interferometers. We show that the optical confinement can be simply explained by a perturbation theoretical approach taking into account the continuity of the electric displacement field. We design phase matched transmission lines and show that their impedance and RF losses can be modeled by an equivalent circuit and linked to slot waveguide properties by a simple set of equations, thus allowing optimization of the device without iterative simulations. We optimize the interferometers for analog optical links and predict record performance metrics (V(pi) = 200 mV @ 10 GHz in push-pull configuration) assuming a modest second order nonlinear coefficient (r(33) = 50 pm/V) and slot width (100 nm). Using high performance optical polymers (r(33) = 150 pm/V), noise figures of state of the art analog optical links can be matched while reducing optical power levels by approximately 30 times. With required optical laser power levels predicted at 50 mW, this could be a game changing improvement by bringing high performance optical analog link power requirements in the reach of laser diodes. A modified transmitter architecture allows shot noise limited performance, while reducing power levels in the slot waveguides and enhancing reliability.

Self-assembly from the gas-phase: design and implementation of small-molecule chromophore precursors with large nonlinear optical responses

Efficiently organizing molecular nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophores having large first-order hyperpolarizabilities (beta) into acentric microstructures for electro-optic (EO) applications represents a significant materials synthesis and processing challenge, in part due to interchromophore dipolar interactions that promote centrosymmetric organization. Here we report the computational modeling, synthesis, and characterization of a series of eight heteroaromatic organic chromophores, designed to self-organize from the vapor phase via directed hydrogen-bond networks, into acentric thin films. Introduction of alpha,omega-donor-acceptor hydrogen-bonding substituents along the molecular long axes tunes properties such as hyperpolarizability, volatility, thermal stability, film-forming properties, and macroscopic NLO response (chi((2))). DFT-level molecular modeling, INDO/S optical property analysis, and sum-overstates computation indicate that molecular-core fluorination and hydrogen-bond donor incorporation can increase beta(vec) up to 40x versus that of typical fluorine-free chromophores. Furthermore, inclusion of sterically induced biphenyl conjugative decoupling between chromophore pi-donor substituents and the hydrogen-bonding donor sites increases beta by approximately 50%. Experimental thin-film second harmonic generation (SHG) spectroscopy confirms these trends in calculated responses, with chi((2)) increasing 7.5x upon chromophore core fluorination and 15x with hydrogen-bonding donor substitution, thereby achieving macroscopic responses as high as 302 pm/V at omega(o) = 1064 nm. In addition to response trends, cluster calculations also reveal linear additivity in beta(vec) with catenation for all benzoic acid-containing chromophores up to longitudinally aligned trimers. Linear scaling of SHG response with film thickness is observed for benzoic acid-containing chromophores up to 1.0 microm film thickness.