Abstract

The research on organic electro-optic materials for photonic applications is strongly motivated by the need for the development of high transmission bandwidths and wavelength division multiplexing systems in telecommunication technologies. Organic nonlinear optical materials offer a large number of design possibilities, large and fast nonlinear optical effects, and promise to meet the future requirements for ultra-high bandwidths. Organic nonlinear optical crystals possess superior thermal and photochemical stability characteristics compared to more widely investigated poled polymers. However, they are mostly difficult to process, especially in thin films that are needed for the development of structures compatible with microelectronics. A single crystalline thin film (quasi 2-D) forming in a short period of time by a melt-based growth technique would be for many photonic devices much more attractive than a bulk crystal grown by the traditional solution growth.

© 2007 IEEE