AN EPOXY/(METHYL METHACRYLATE)INTERPENETRATING POLYMER NETWORK FOR NONLINEAR OPTICS*

 An interpenetrating polymer networks (IPN) consisting of an epoxy-based polymer network and apolymethyl methacrylate network were synthesized and characterized. The IPN showed only one T_g, andhence a homogeneous-phase morphology was suggested. The second-order nonlinear optical coefficient (d₃₃)of the IPN was measured to be 1.72×10^-7 esu. The study of NLO temporal stability at room temperature andelevated temperature (100℃) indicated that the IPN exhibits a high stability in the dipole orientation due to the permanent entanglements of two component networks in the IPN system.Long-term stability of second harmonic coefficients was observed at room temperature for more than 1000h.