Electrooptical effect in polymeric composites containing heterometallic Cu(II)/Mn(II) complexes

Abstract

We studied the effect of an electric field on the transmission of linearly polarized light through films of composites based on polyvinylbutyral doped with particles of Cu(II)/Mn(II) complexes with "skeleton" and "planar" structures. The action of an electrostatic field causes light absorption to become anisotropic. The effect increases with increasing distance between the cation and anion. Its sign reverses if the spatial structure of the complex is changed. A phenomenological model is proposed according to which the electrooptical properties of the composites are due to a change in the mutual orientation of complex building blocks on exposure to an external electric field.