Abstract
We report the fabrication and the structural and optical characterization of transparent spin coated films (average thickness values of 4.9 ± 0.1 µm) of organic–inorganic hybrids (di-ureasils) doped with the Disperse Red 1 (DR1) chromophore. The refractive index was measured by prism coupling and spectroscopic ellipsometry revealing that the inclusion of DR1 induces a refractive index increase of ~1.0 × 10−2 at 1550 nm, with respect to the non-doped host. Under UV exposure, the refractive index values of the DR1-doped hybrids decreased (−5 × 10−3, at 1550 nm) due to a conformational alteration of DR1, as suggested by infrared and Raman spectroscopies. The global results indicate that DR1 doped di-ureasils are promising candidates as self-patternable planar waveguides for nonlinear integrated optics and photonic applications.
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Acknowledgments
This work was funded by National Funds through FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia under the project UID/EEA/50008/2013 and partially developed in the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (Ref. FCT UID/CTM/50011/2013), financed by Portuguese funds through FCT/MEC and FEDER. Carlos M.S. Vicente also acknowledges FCT for the grant SFRH/BPD/87473/2012.
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Vicente, C.M.S., Fu, L., André, P.S. et al. Fabrication and optical properties of thin films with sol–gel derived di-ureasils doped with Disperse Red 1. Opt Quant Electron 48, 389 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-016-0661-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-016-0661-4