Organic electro-optics: exploiting the best of electronics and photonics

Utilizing guidance from quantum and statistical mechanics, the electro-optic coefficients of organic materials have been increased to values greater than 100 pm/V at telecommunication wavelengths (e.g., to 130 pm/V at 1.3 microns). Electro-optic materials now afford significant advantages in terms of bandwidth and electro-optic activity over inorganic materials such as lithium niobate. Moreover, organic materials have also been found to be quite processable permitting the fabrication, by reactive ion etching and photolithographic techniques, of 3-D active waveguide structures and integration with both VLSI semiconductor electronics and silica fiber optics. Stripline, cascaded prism, and microresonator structures have been fabricated, as have low-optical-loss coupling structures. A number of prototype devices demonstrating superior performance have been produced; however, the long-term, in-field performance of such devices still remains to be evaluated. Nevertheless, significant advances have been made in improving the thermal and photochemical stability of organic materials and in defining the mechanisms that define these stabilities (by testing under accelerated conditions). The role of nanoscale architecture in systematically improving stability of organic electro-optic materials, as well as contributing to enhanced electro-optic activity and reduced optical loss, has been clarified.