Recent advances in high-gain photorefractive polymers

Summary form only given. This talk focuses on the development and characterization of new high-gain photorefractive polymers, with emphasis on a particular stable composite composed of the photoconductor poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK), the charge generator C/sub 60/, the nonlinear optical chromophore 4-piperidinobenzylidene malononitrile (PDCST), and the liquid plasticizer butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP). The optical properties of this material, denoted PVK:PDCST:BBP:C/sub 60/, have been reported recently, and the material has been shown to exhibit a high two-beam coupling gain coefficient, fast response time, over-modulation of diffraction efficiency, high sensitivity, and high stability. Using such high-gain coefficients, we believe we have recently observed amplified scattering (beam fanning) in a photorefractive polymer for the first time.