AbstractA new host-guest electro optic (EO) polymer, in which a chromophore can be reacted with the polymer main chain during poling to give the corresponding side-chain EO polymer, has been prepared for improving EO effect and its thermal stability. Polyisoimide (PII) synthesized from 2, 2-bis (4-aminophenyl) hexafluoropropane and oxydiphthalic anhydride and Disperse Red 1 (DR1) were used as a host and a guest, respectively. A model compound reaction and Infrared spectra of the host-guest film after annealing at various temperatures show that the reaction between the isoimide groups in PII and the hydroxyl groups in DR1 occurs around 140 °C. The glass transition temperatures of the resulting EO polyamic aicd ester-imide copolymer with 0, 10, 20 and 30 wt. % of chromophore concentration were 275, 219, 160, and 124 °C, respectively. The EO coefficient obtained at a wavelength of 1.55 νm was 5.3 and 10.5 pm/V from the EO polymer film with 20 and 30 wt. % DR1. The EO signals exhibited only a slight decay at high temperature due to the chemical reaction between the host and guest during poling.
