Measurement of the electro-optic properties of poled polymers at λ = 1.55 μm by means of sandwich structures with zinc oxide transparent electrode

We report on the measurement of the electro-optic properties of poled polymers at λ=1.55 μm via the Teng and Man technique. Measurements of the electro-optic coefficient obtained for two different sandwich structures, using either indium tin oxide (ITO) or aluminum doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) semitransparent electrodes, are compared. The experimental results show that the use of ITO electrodes can lead to a largely wrong evaluation of the electro-optic coefficient r33, with respect to that obtained when using ZnO:Al electrodes, whose plasma resonance is shifted to longer wavelengths. Results on the disperse red 1/methyl-metacrylate based sidechain benchmark system are reported.