title: Poled polymer thin-film gratings studied with far-field optical diffraction and second-harmonic near-field microscopy.
abstract: Electrical poling induces polar ordering of molecules in a grating that has been holographically inscribed on a thin film of polymer with azobenzene side chains. The resulting chi2 grating, seen by second-harmonic-generation (SHG) near-field scanning optical microscopy, can have a periodic structure that is significantly different from the topographical image. The far-field linear and SHG diffration patterns correlate well with the grating structures. Poling of the thin-film grating, which presumably has photodriven nonuniform material properties within each period, leads to the more complex structure of the chi2 grating.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720-1460, USA.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Schaller
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Saykally
authors.forename: Y R
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lagugné-Labarthet