SBIR Phase II: A New Class of Complex Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Mesogens for Advanced Electro-Optic Devices

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目旨在利用新型二聚体铁电液晶（FLC）开发一类新的电光（EO）和非线性光学（NLO）材料，提供以前无法获得的特性。这将使先进的光电产品能够跨越多个市场，从投影电视的激光器到用于光学互连和电信的100 GHz集成电光调制器和开关。100多年来，主要的液晶分子一直是简单棒状的变体。这项创新利用了新的二聚体-一对并排的传统棒状FLC分子，通过π共轭桥连接，设计成为强NLO发色团的一部分。使用当今占主导地位的非线性光学材料锂酸盐来构建集成光电器件是困难且昂贵的。有机极化聚合物NLO材料为集成提供了显著的优势，但由于其不稳定性和非中心对称性（需要是NLO有源的）而受到性能和稳定性限制。FLC本质上是非中心对称的和分子稳定的，为产生高密度的强的、定向的NLO发色团提供了理想的支架。我们的第二阶段目标是开发和演示用于投影电视激光光源和电光调制的原型材料，并设计用于投影电视激光器的产品。在商业上，SBIR第二阶段项目将推进对新型二聚体铁电液晶的科学和技术理解，并将产生第一个商业上重要的液晶，而不是基于简单的棒状分子。消费产品将包括更高的图像质量，更低的成本，背投电视和实用，明亮，微型投影机的便携式电子产品。由NLO材料实现的集成电光器件将有助于扩大计算机和电信网络的带宽，以及未来几代更快计算机中的互连。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to exploit novel dimer ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) to develop a new class of materials for electro-optics (EO) and non-linear optics (NLO) that offer previously unobtainable properties. This will enable advanced optoelectronic products across multiple markets, from lasers for projection television to 100GHz integrated electro-optic modulators and switches for optical interconnects and telecommunications. For over 100 years, predominant liquid crystal molecules have been variants on simple rod shapes. This innovation exploits new dimers - a side-by-side pair of conventional rod-shaped FLC molecules connected by a pi-conjugated bridge engineered to be part of a strong NLO chromophore. It is difficult and expensive to build integrated optoelectronic devices using lithium niobate, today's dominant NLO material. Organic poled-polymer NLO materials offer significant advantages for integration, but suffer performance and stability limitations due to being thermodynamically unstable and non-centrosymmetric (required to be NLO active). FLCs are intrinsically non-centrosymmetric and thermodynamically stable, offering an ideal scaffolding for creating high densities of strong, oriented, NLO chromophores. Our Phase II objectives are to develop and demonstrate prototype materials for projection television laser light sources and electro-optic modulation, and to design a product that will be used in projection television lasers.Commercially, this SBIR Phase II project will advance the scientific and technological understanding of a new class of dimer ferroelectric liquid crystals, and will produce the first commercially significant liquid crystals not based on simple rod-shaped molecules. Consumer products will include higher image quality, lower cost, rear projection televisions and practical, bright, micro-projectors for portable electronics. Integrated electro-optic devices enabled by the NLO materials will help to expand the bandwidth of computer and telecommunication networks, and of interconnects within coming generations of faster computers.