By using the Z-scan method we studied the third-order nonlinear optical parameters of several aminobenziliden-1,3-indandione (ABI) derivatives that have previously been shown to own second-order nonlinear optical properties. Measurements were carried out using two 1064 nm Nd:YAG lasers with picosecond (ps) and nanosecond (ns) pulse widths, respectively. When ns laser was employed in the Z-scan setup, a strong thermal lensing took place resulting in severe overestimation of optical Kerr coefficients. Due to this reason the ps laser was employed to evaluate correct magnitude of Kerr effect. For investigated organic molecules, experimental results show that two-photon absorption at 1064 nm is in correlation with molar extinction coefficient at 532 nm. Here we demonstrate good linear correlation between values of second-order molecular hyperpolarizability determined experimentally and those obtained by quantum chemical modeling.

In this paper we describe the principles of operation as well as the fabrication and testing steps of an all-organic waveguide modulator. The modulator comprises an SU-8 core and an electro-optic host-guest polymer cladding. The polymer properties are tuned in order to achieve single mode operation. We used direct-write laser lithography in two steps for the preparation of the devices. The electro-optic coefficient of the polymer is estimated from observing the modulation of the device operated in push-pull mode.

The results of electro‐optic coefficient measurements performed with three commonly applied techniques used to assess electro‐optic coefficients: the Mach–Zehnder, the Teng–Man, and the attenuated total reflectance technique are reported. It is shown that the signal obtained by the Mach–Zehnder and Teng–Man techniques is strongly influenced by the multiple internal reflection and piezo‐ and electrostrictive thickness change effects, which in our opinion have not been addressed sufficiently in the literature. A novel approach based on using Abelès matrix formalism is implemented for the retrieval of electro‐optic coefficients from experimental data. The measurement results, errors, and comparison of the obtained electro‐optic coefficient values with the ones expected from the second harmonic generation measurements are discussed. It is demonstrated that, by applying incidence angle scan measurements in Teng–Man technique, an analytic approximation that ignores multiple internal reflection and thickness change effects can provide an electro‐optic coefficient estimate within the precision of 2%. This value is much less than the error caused by the thickness change effect that may appear in the attenuated total reflectance technique which inherently has low sensitivity to the thickness modulation effects in the sample.

S/cm is achieved for pure TTT thin films. Subsequent aerial oxidation resulted in a 3.4-fold increase in electrical conductivity.

An all-organic Mach-Zehnder waveguide device for volatile solvent sensing is presented. Optical waveguide devices offer a great potential for various applications in sensing and communications due to multiple advantageous properties such as immunity to electromagnetic interference, high efficiency, and low cost and size. One of the most promising areas for applications of photonic systems would be real-time monitoring of various hazardous organic vapor concentrations harmful to human being. The optical waveguide volatile solvent sensor presented here comprises a novel organic material applied as a cladding on an SU-8 waveguide core and can be used for sensing of different vapors such as isopropanol, acetone, and water. It is shown that the reason for the chemical sensing in device is the absorption of vapor into the waveguide cladding which in turn changes the waveguide effective refractive index. The presented waveguide device has small footprint and high sensitivity of the mentioned solvent vapor, particularly that of water. The preparation steps of the device as well as the sensing characteristics are presented and discussed.