Turning on Fluorescence by Two-Photon Excitation and Polymerization: Toward a 3-D Optical Memory Device

DANIEL J. DYER, BRIAN H. CUMPSTON, DIANNE MCCORD-MAUGHON, S. THAYUMANAVAN, STEPHEN BARLOW, JOSEPH W. PERRY, and SETH R. MARDER

New materials have been synthesized composed of a 4,4'-bis(dialkylamino) stilbene two-photon chromophore covalently attached to one or two methacrylate ester groups. The fluorescence observed in the nonfunctionalized chromophore is significantly quenched in the methacry late-functionalized species, but is partially restored on polymerization of the methacrylate groups induced by either one- or two-photon excitation. We have demonstrated the potential utility of these materials in highdensity data storage applications by writing fluorescent bits in a composite containing these materials using two-photon excitation, the contrast between the fluorescence from the bits and the background being ca. 3.