RANTECH will investigate an approach to increase size, efficiency and processability of second-order NLO materials by utilizing an innovative sol-gel process. Specifically, RANTECH proposes to align and lock inorganic chromophores in a silica glass which is both processable and scalable into larger sizes. In this approach, covalent bonding and rigidity of the inorganic glass matrix will prevent relaxation of the aligned inorganic chromophores. Using inorganic alkoxides which are well known second-order NLO chromophores, enables the densification of the inorganic glass at elevated temperatures which were previously inaccessible due to the thermal instability of the organic chromophores being used.
