Electro-optic crosslinkable chromophores with ultrahigh electro-optic coefficients and long-term stability

The development of organic electro-optic materials with ultrahigh electro-optic coefficients and high long-term alignment stability is the most challenging topic in this field. Next-generation crosslinkable nonlinear optical chromophore molecular glasses were developed to address this problem. A highly stable EO system including crosslinkable binary chromophores QLD1 and QLD2 or crosslinkable single chromophore QLD3 and multichromophore QLD4 with large hyperpolarizability was synthesized using tetrahydroquinoline as the donor. When the temperature continues to rise after poling, the chromophores modified with anthracene and acrylate can undergo Diels–Alder crosslinking reaction to fix the oriented chromophores through chemical bonds. After crosslinking, the QLD1/QLD2 and QLD2/QLD4 films achieved very high maximum r(33) values of 327 and 373 pm V(−1), respectively, which are the highest values reported for crosslinkable chromophore systems. After Diels–Alder cycloaddition, the glass transition temperature of the EO film increased by ∼90 °C to 185 °C, which is higher than for any other pure chromophore films. After being annealed at 85 °C, 99.63% of the initial r(33) value could be maintained for over 500 h. The ultrahigh electro-optic activity and high long-term alignment stability of these materials showed new breakthroughs in organic EO materials for practical device explorations.