Photostability enhancement studies on zwitterionic chromophores for nonlinear optics

Abstract

Optical and photostability measurements have been made on nonlinear optical films containing amorphous polycarbonate and an organic chromophore that has a high 2 nd order nonlinear optical figure of merit. We show that the decrease in the photodegradation quantum efficiency with increasing optical intensity can be modelled in terms of oxygen depletion by oxygen-mediated chomophore photodegradation. The addition of a known singlet oxygen quencher, beta carotene, leads to a 1100% decrease in the photodegradation quantum efficiency.