Acknowledgments

Electrostatic self-assembly was used to fabricate several samples of polymers known to have non-linear optical behavior. These sample's characteristics were measured with interferometry and their electro-optic coefficients determined to be on the order of that of LiNbO 3 . The self-assembled samples are shown to have an enhanced polar order compared to that of more traditional poled polymers. Furthermore, this polar order is intrinsic and thus doesn't require electric field poling and does not decay with time. The self-assembly process is therefore shown to possess great potential for the fabrication of high-speed electro-optic modulators for commercial and military applications. iii Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge many meaningful discussions with colleagues Dr. Kristie Cooper, Dr. Liangmin Zhang, Dr. You-Xiong Wang, Dr. Ken Meissner, Dr. Jeff Mecham, Mike Vercellino, Dave Wood, Carvel Holton, Jean Huie, and Fajian Zhang that have greatly contributed to both my research and the final form of this thesis. I would like to give special thanks my advisor, Dr. Richard Claus, for all of his constant support and motivation throughout this research endeavor. I would also like to thank Dr. Roger Stolen and Dr. Ahmad Safaai-Jazi for taking the time to serve on my committee and for contributing to my professional development. It has been both an honor and a privilege. In addition, thanks to all of the FEORC researchers and support staff for creating an environment that made the performance of this research fun. iv Table of Contents 1