Peculiarities of electric field alignment of nonlinear optical chromophores incorporated into thin film polymer matrix
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abstract
The electric field poling process of free-standing films of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix doped with the nonlinear optical compound 4-(dimethylamino)-4'-nitrostilbene (DMANS) was investigated by molecular simulation methods. The influence of the vacuum/bulk interfacial regions on static and dynamic properties, including the glass transition temperature T g and the field-induced chromophore reorientation, was studied by employing films of three different thicknesses and by comparison with previous work on the bulk system. The interfacial region, defined as the region, where the local density increases from zero to the bulk density, is about 2 nm wide, independent of the film thickness. T g decreases with decreasing film thickness, in accord with previous experimental work and theoretical predictions. The resistance against field-induced chromophore reorientation in the liquid state is found to increase strongly with the film thickness. Springer-Verlag 2005.