Electro-optic phenomena in guest-host films of PMMA and SiC nanocrystals

Electro-optic (EO) phenomena are measured in electrically poled films (0.5 μm) based on large-sized SiC nanocrystallites (nc-SiC) as chromophores and polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) as host matrices. Both linear electro-optic (LEO) and quadratic coefficients are obtained, and, for nc-SiC contents ranging from 1% to 3% by weight units, the largest achieved effective LEO coefficient is found close to 26 pm/V at λ = 0.633 μm. Comparison with the electrically active host matrix of poly(vinyl-carbazole) (PVK) shows that the polarization at the nc-SiC boundaries with the polymer play a crucial role on the EO phenomena. Moreover, the relative interface area between the polymer and the SiC nanocrystallites contributes critically to the observed electro-optic effects.