A. Charasa, A. L. Mendonçaa,b, L. Alcácera,b, J. Morgadoa,b*, J. Cabanillas-Gonzalezc, T. Vergilic, G. Lanzanic
aInstituto de Telecomunicações, Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, P-1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
bDep. Eng. Química e Biológica, Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, P-1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal (*jorge.morgado@lx.it.pt)
cDipartimento de Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, P.za Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy
Plastic optical fibers, POFs, are being developed for local optical communications. Though their higher losses prevents them to compete with the silica fibers for long range communications, their flexibility and easier handling opens up prospects for their application, in particular for local area networks. A strong effort is being put into the reduction of their loss, so they may be used for longer range optical transport. We are currently investigating conjugated polymers-doped poly(methylmethacrilate) as a new strategy which may allow not only for optical gain but also for ultrafast switch [1] in POFs and waveguides. In this communication we report on the synthesis and characterisation of polyfluorene(PF)-polymethylmethacrilate (PMMA) copolymers which are promissing candidates to achieve that goal. In particular, we report on our recent progress on different copolymerisation approaches which are aimed to both lead to well defined copolymer structures, while ensuring the nonexistence of interactions between PFs chains, and allow a controlled load of the photoactive PF. These systems are also used to further characterise the mechanism behind the optical gain.
This work benefited from financial support from EU under the contract FP6-026365 POLYCOM.
[1] T. Virgili, D. Marinotto, G. Lanzani, D.D.C. Bradley, Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 091113 (2005).