Photochemical Stability of Organic Electro-Optic Polymer at 1310-nm Wavelength

SUMMARY We investigated the photochemical stability of an electro-optic (EO) polymer under laser irradiation at 1310 nm to reveal photodegradation mechanisms. It was found that one-photon absorption excitation assisted with the thermal energy at the temperature is involved in the photodegradation process, in contrast to our previous studies at a wavelength of 1550 nm where two-photon absorption excitation is involved in the photodegradation process. Thus, both the excitation wavelength and the thermal energy strongly affect to the degradation mechanism. In any cases, the photodegradation of EO polymers is mainly related to the generation of exited singlet oxygen.