Optical component based on Langmuir-Blodgett layers

An optical component comprising an electromagnetic radiation-transparent polymeric medium having a second-order susceptibility of at least 10.sup.-9 electrostatic units, the polymeric medium comprising compounds having polar-aligned noncentrosymmetric molecular dipoles which have as structural elements an electron acceptor which is bound to an electron donor via a conjugated w-electron system, which makes possible an oscillation of the molecular dipoles between a ground state having a first dipole moment and an electronically excited state having a second dipole moment different from the first dipole, wherein the polymeric medium comprises an alternating arrangement of at least one Langmuir-Blodgett film comprising at least two different nonionic polymers, having nonlinear optical properties, of the formulae (IIIa) and (IIIb),

• [[CH.sub.2 --CZ.sup.1 --COW].sub.k [CH.sub.2 --CZ.sup.2 --COOV].sub.1 [CH.sub.2 --CZ.sup.3 --COOU].sub.t ] III
• wherein:
• Z.sup.1, Z.sup.2, Z.sup.3 :
• are, independently of one another, selected from the group consisting essentially of H, CH.sub.3, CF.sub.3, F, and Cl,
• V:
• is H or an alkyl group having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms,
• U:
• is a group Q-D-G-A (formula IIIa) or Q-A-G-D (formula IIIb),
• W is NR.sup.12 R.sup.13 or OR.sup.12 where R.sup.12 and R.sup.13 are H or an alkyl group having from 1 to 22 carbon atoms,
• t:
• is from 0.01 to 1.0,
• l:
• is from 0 to 0.5,
• k:
• is from 0 to 0.99,
• Q:
• is --(CH.sub.2).sub.p --X, with X:
• --O-- or --NR.sup.1 --, and where X indicates the connection to the main chain of the polymer,
• p:
• is from 1 to 20, where one or two CH.sub.2 groups can also be replaced by O,
• D:
• is --NR.sup.2 R.sup.3, --O--R.sup.4 or --S--R.sup.5 wherein for compounds of formula (IIIa) a radical R is replaced by Q;
• A is --SO.sub.2 --R.sup.6 or --BR.sup.9 R.sup.10, ##STR7## wherein for compounds of formula (IIIb) a radical R is replaced by Q;
• G:
• --Ar--Y.sub.(n) --Ar.sub.(m) with Ar:
• 1,4-phenylene, naphthalene-2,6-diyl, thiazole-2,5-diyl, thiadiazole-2,5-diyl, thiophene-2,5-diyl, furan-2,5-diyl, oxazole-2,5-diyl, where either one or two hydrogen atoms can be replaced by C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl or alkoxy groups,
• Y:
• --C.tbd.C--, --CH.dbd.CH--, --N.dbd.N--, --CH.dbd.N--, --N.dbd.CH--, --NH--N.dbd.CH--, --HC.dbd.N--NH--;
• n, m:
• 0, 1, 2, 3;
• wherein R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4, R.sup.5, R.sup.6, R.sup.7, R.sup.8, R.sup.9 and R.sup.10 are, independently of one another, a straight-chain or branched alkyl group having from 1 to 22 carbon atoms, where one or more non-neighboring CH.sub.2 groups can also be replaced by O, which gives ether structures, and where R.sup.7 and R.sup.8 can together also form a ring;
• and where D and G can also be parts of a ring system, as a result of which one of the substituents R can be a single bond.