Rachel Yerushalmi-Rozen

The use of optical second harmonic generation (SHG) to probe, in situ and in real time, the physical grafting of polymers from dilute toluene solution onto mica crystal surfaces is reported. Despite using polymers with no hyperpolarizable groups, and the very low surface density of end-attached species, we show how changes in the SHG signal of the substrate may be monitored during polymer grafting. Characteristic attachment rates are obtained by this method.