Design and Synthesis of Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals. 25. An Approach to New Materials for Ultra-Fast Electronic Electro-Optic Modulators

Abstract

Combining excellent processibility on silicon integrated circuits with a thermodynamically stable polar structure, ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) provide an attractive potential approach to synthesis of materials for second order nonlinear optics (NLO). In order for this potential to be realized, however, adequate magnitude of the second order susceptibility χ⁽²⁾ must be obtained. Recent results of experiments demonstrating orientation along the FLC polar axis of functional arrays with large molecular second order susceptibility, such as those found in the NLO dyes Disperse Red 1 and dimethylaminonitrostilbene, are described.