Optical poling of azo-compounds for applications in nanophotonics

Azo-compounds in polymers will likely play an increasingly important role in engineering of silicon photonics and plasmonic nano-devices for E-O modulation, parametric generation, switching and sensing. In this paper, we present a phenomenological theory of all-optical poling and photo-assisted electric field poling of azo-dye doped polymers and compare theoretical simulation results with experimental all-optical poling transients at varying temperatures obtained for azophenylcarbazole type azo-dyes in polycarbonate polymer matrix.