Oriented Electro/Optical Polymers through In-Situ Chemistry during Gel Processing: A Research Opportunity
Abstract
The focus of the research was to obtain high performance properties (electrical and/or optical) from conjugated polymers by improving the structural order through polymer processing. The success of the approach is quantified by the demonstration of third order optical susceptibility values in excess of (10 to the minus 8th power, 10 to the minus 7th power) esu for high quality, oriented trans-polyacetylene at frequencies in the infrared (frequencies which are relevant to optical communications). Equally important, we have identified a structure/property relationship that can be used to direct synthesis of new conjugated polymers with comparably large NLO coefficients: In conjugated polymers with degenerate ground state, the dominant NLO mechanism results from the neutral soliton Ag intermediate state mechanism. In a parallel effort, high performance electrical and mechanical properties were demonstrated in fibers made from conducting polymers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 04, 1992
- Accession Number
- ADA255968
Entities
People
- Alan J. Heeger
- Fred Wudl
- Paul Smith
Organizations
- University of California, Santa Barbara