Organic Chromophores with Nonlinear Optical Properties for Electro-optical Modulators

The appearance of multiple data sources, the ever-increasing demand for speed in a single transmission channel lead to explosive, exponential growth of traffic in subscriber access networks, which inevitably leads to the creation of fifth-generation networks (5G). In such networks, modulation/demodulation systems and multiplexing/demultiplexing of streams with data rates above 10 Gb/s (up to 100 GHz) play an enormous role. Electrooptical modulators are used in civil, military and space segments in devices of radio-photonics, in optical communications (telecom, 1.3, 1.5 μm) and optical signal processing; in optical interconnections for data processing centers (Datacom, 0.84 μm) and interchip/intra-chip data transmission (computercom), communication systems of the generation 5G. The development of new functional electro-optic materials with improved characteristics will allowmodulation at frequencies of tens or even hundreds of gigahertz with minimal contribution of the modulator to the noise parameters of the system, which is especially important for low-signal radio frequency applications. Considering the high demand for such materials in advanced developments, incl. military, and the absence of domestic producers, the development of this direction is critical in terms of ensuring the sovereignty of the country. Currently, most of the existing modulators operate on the basis of lithium niobate, which allows modulating the signal with a frequency of up to 20 GHz, which is inadequate. The required values in modern conditions are 80-100 GHz. As an alternative to inorganic crystals underlying such modulators, organic polymeric nonlinear optical materials with a quadratic response to an applied high intensity electric field can be used. Already now, such materials are used in photonics and optoelectronics, in particular, in broadband and high-speed digital information fiberoptic communication systems production with electro-optical signal modulation by means of Mach-Zehnder modulators (Figure 1). [1-9]