Synthesis of nonlinear optical chromophore and the preparation of attenuated total reflectance modulator.

A new nonlinear optical chromophore with strong electron-withdrawing acceptor and rigid-flexible dendron was synthesized. An electro-optic (EO) attenuated total reflectance modulator was prepared to measure the EO coefficient of the films. Modification of the tricyanopyrroline chromophore with rigid-flexible dendron group provided reduction of dipole-dipole interactions and improvement of its solubility. As the chromophore loading increased, there was a great improvement on the macroscopic EO response of the polymeric materials obtained by incorporating this chromophore as a guest in amorphous polycarbonate. The largest EO coefficient was 42 pm/V at 1310 nm. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]