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arXiv · 2509.00607

Fully-chromophoric ferroelectric nematics for electronic electro-optics

Xi Chen·Andrew Bradfield·Chirag Patel·Pavel Savechenkov·Jason W. Sickler·Gianlorenzo Masini·Joseph E. Maclennan·Noel A. Clark·Cory Pecinovsky·Matthew A. Glaser
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Abstract

Electronic electro-optic (EEO) phase modulation is a key emerging technology for the chip-scale inter-conversion of signals between the electronic and photonic domains. The recent discovery of the ferroelectric nematic ($N_F$) liquid crystal phase, a three dimensional fluid of rod-shaped organic molecules having near-perfect equilibrium polar molecular orientational order, offers attractive opportunities for the creation of second-order nonlinear optical materials for EEO. Here we propose and realize a design motif for $N_F$ EEO molecules in which few-nanometer-long molecular rods are functionalized both for electro-static end-to-end association, facilitating $N_F$ phase formation, and for chromophoric optical nonlinearity, enabling high EEO efficiency, a combination enabling an active second-order nonlinear EEO medium that is 100% chromophoric.

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Xi Chen, Andrew Bradfield, Chirag Patel, Pavel Savechenkov, Jason W. Sickler, Gianlorenzo Masini, Joseph E. Maclennan, Noel A. Clark, Cory Pecinovsky, Matthew A. Glaser. 2025-08-30. Fully-chromophoric ferroelectric nematics for electronic electro-optics. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.00607

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