The synthesis of birefringent chromophores for optoelectronic applications

Abstract

Birefringence is a property of a material, whereby the change in refractive index is linearly proportional to the applied electric field. Birefringent materials can therefore be used to modulate light, both in a singular Pockels cell or a more complex system such as a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI). Organic birefringent chromophores can be polymerised and poled in order to maintain their dipole. Such polymers have been reported to have electro-optic coefficients (r33) of over 10 times that of the industry standard for an MZI. This thesis reports synthetic routes to a previously reported chromophore bearing a substituted furan ring as the electron-withdrawing group, and three novel chromophores with BODIPY-based withdrawing groups, ready for polymerisation and subsequent optoelectronic testing. Syntheses towards additional novel BODIPY-based chromophores and side-chain modified chromophores bearing a triazole and amine side chain are also attempted.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Jodie Violet Henningway: orcid.org/0000-0001-6688-1726

ORCID for Ramon Rios torres: orcid.org/0000-0002-3843-8521

ORCID for Frederic Gardes: orcid.org/0000-0003-1400-3272

ORCID for David Harrowven: orcid.org/0000-0001-6730-3573

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