High-Optical-Quality Blends of Anionic Polymethine Salts and Polycarbonate with Enhanced Third-Order Non-linearities for Silicon-Organic Hybrid Devices

A series of anionic polymethine dyes with different aromatic counterions are prepared to improve their compatibility as guests in an amorphous polycarbonate host. When they are used as the cladding material for silicon hybrid slot waveguides, four-wave mixing wavelength conversion and two-photon absorption-based optical-power modulation are observed. Such guest-host materials may be attractive candidates for all-optical signal-processing applications.