Organic Electroactive Materials Larry Dalton, University of Washington, DMR-0551020

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Organic Electroactive MaterialsLarry Dalton,
University of Washington, DMR-0551020
It is well appreciated that directional hydrogen
bonds play the critical role in defining
nanoscopic order in biological systems. The
broader role of Van der Waals interactions in
defining order is less well appreciated and less
utilized in preparation of high performance
materials. We are developing new materials
nanoengineering concepts based on new
pseudo-atomistic Monte Carlo computational
methods. Implementation of these concepts have
resulted in orders of magnitude improvement in
nonlinear optical and electronic properties and
have permitted systematic variation of
chromophore lattices from centrosymmetric to
noncentrosymmetric. Enhancement of electro-optic
(EO) activity to more than an order of magnitude
greater than the commercial standard, lithium
niobate, is shown in the accompanying figure.
Dendrimer Host
EO activity vs. chromophore number density
Ising-like Lattice
r33 EO coeffiicent Ep Poling field N no.
density
Polymer Host
Independent particle lattice
Figure 1. Electro-optic activity of
electrically-poled materials as a function of
doping the same chromophore into a dendritic host
(blue squares) versus doping into an amorphous
polymer host (e.g., Ising versus isotropic
lattice) (red triangles) is shown. The red line
describes independent particle the blue line
represents enhanced noncentrosymmetric order.
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Organic Electroactive MaterialsLarry Dalton,
University of Washington, DMR-0551020
Knowledge and Technology Transfer Chapters in
Encyclopedia of Modern Optics, Handbook of
Conducting Polymers and Handbook of Photonics.
Start-up companies Lumera and AES derivative from
program intellectual property. KT and TT impacts
DARPA and NRO programs as well as research
programs at AFRL, Boeing, and Lockheed-Martin.
Materials from this program, when incorporated
into silicon photonic devices, lead to successful
Boeing information management platform based on
reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer
(ROADM) devices (see below).
Education and Diversity Enhancement The rational
utilization of non-bonded interactions to create
nanostructured material lattices is an important
educational component of Nanoscience-Nanotechnolog
y and Materials/Polymer Chemistry. Lectures have
been developed and given at the 2006 Alabama AM
Univ. NSF/RISE Workshop/Short Course on Sensor
Science Technology, the 2006 ACS-PRF Summer
School on Optical, Photonic, and Electronic
Materials at Central Florida Univ., the UW NSF
REU program, and the Research Exposed course
sponsored by the UW Office of Undergraduate
Education. Lecture materials are being
incorporated into various UW course offerings
including the Nanotechnology Ph.D. program. All
students supported by this NSF grant are from
under-represented groups.