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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2011
NLO-active polyurethanes were developed and optically characterized. We synthesized polyurethanes possessing large hyperpolarlzabilities, which are covalently attached or crosslinked to the polymer backbone. At ambient temperature the d33 values for poled polyurethanes were measured shortly after poling and 6 months later. The second-order nonllnearlty of the poled, crosslinked polyurethane is extremely stable decreasing slightly over 6 months. Also, using a polyurethane bearing a tricyanovinyl moiety as the host, we developed a nonlinear optical silver nanoparticle composite system. A third-order susceptibility was measured for the composite and was determined to be larger than that from the sum of its components. A chemical enhancement mechanism is speculated to be contributing to the large optical nonlinearities.