Abstract
3,4-Bis-(3,4-dicarboxyphenylcarboxyethoxy)-4'-nitrostilbene dianhydride was prepared and reacted with 4,4'-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)dianiline to yield a novel Y-type polyimide containing the 3,4-dioxynitrostilbenyl group as an NLO-chromophore, which constituted part of the polymer backbone. The resulting polyimide was soluble in polar solvents such as acetone and N,N-dimethylformamide. The polymer exhibited good thermal stability up to $370^{\circ}C$ in the thermogravimetric analysis. The glass-transition temperature ($T_g$) obtained from the differential scanning calorimetry thermogram was near to $153^{\circ}C$. The second harmonic generation (SHG) coefficient ($d_{33}$) of the poled polymer film at the fundamental wavelength of $1064\;cm^{-1}$ was around $2.15\;{\times}\;10^{-8}\;esu$ (9.01 pm/V). The dipole alignment exhibited exceptionally high thermal stability even at a temperature $30^{\circ}C$ above the $T_g$, and there was no SHG decay below $180^{\circ}C$ because of the partial main chain character of the polymer structure.
