New materials for optical rectification and electrooptic sampling of ultrashort pulses in the terahertz regime

The synthesis and nonlinear optical characterization of new electrooptic (EO) materials useful for terahertz (THz) applications is presented. Semiempirical calculations were used to guide the development of a series of chromophores on the basis of 2-dicyanomethylen-3-cyano-4,5,5-trimethyl-2,5-dihydrofuran acceptors acting as guests in polymer films used in the generation of THz radiation via optical rectification. Amorphous films, 65-250 mum thick, with EO coefficients as high as 52 pm/V at 785 nm were used to generate sub-picosecond pulses with bandwidths up to 3 THz. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym. Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 2492-2500, 2003