We investigated the condition of unique self-written channel and multichannel propagation inside bulk photopolymerizable materials. Light was introduced in the medium by a single-mode optical fiber. At a very low beam power of 5 muW , a unique uniform-channel waveguide without any broadening was obtained by polymerization. When the input power is increased to 100 muW , the guide becomes chaotic and multichannel. We connected two fibers separated by a 1-cm distance. The results open the door to studies of the optical and electro-optical properties of photopolymerized guides doped by nonlinear optical chromophores and to possible applications in integrated optical devices.

We report an experimental and theoretical study on the optimization of (2+1)D self-written waveguide formation inside a photopolymerizable material. The accurate control of the refractive index value inside the bulk of the material during the polymerization process gives us the opportunity to define a virtual core and a virtual cladding for the system. The V value which characterizes the guidance properties of a fiber can be applied to this propagation. The control of the V value allows us to propagate single mode or multimode waveguides on a few centimeters. Numerical simulations of these waveguides based on a paraxial model including both photopolymerization and Kerr effect give very good agreement with our experimental results.

We report experimental results obtained from dielectric spectroscopy, electro-optic, and second harmonic generation dynamics measurements on different polymers doped with nonlinear optical chromophores. The polymers considered in this work are polyvinylcarbazole plasticized by ethylcarbazole and polystyrenes with different average molecular weights. Altogether the influence of temperature, average molecular weight of the polymer host, and concentration of plasticizer on the orientational processes of chromophores is investigated and described by polymer rheology laws. Finally, these results, which identify the major role played by the average molecular weight of polymers on the orientational dynamics of chromophores, suggest another possible way of optimization for low glass transition temperature photorefractive polymers, where fast orientational response times are required.