A photorefractive polymer employing a fluorinated cyanotolane chromophore exhibits a stable response-time of approximately 2 ms and may support applications requiring video-rates. The achievable bandwidth is not limited by reorientational dynamics and might be increased further by improvements in photoconductivity.
Efficient photorefractive polymers hold great potential for optical data processing and storage and so have been a topic of intense investigations in recent years. Materials with nearly 100 percent diffraction efficiencies have been developed, but these have been generally characterized by much slower response than their less efficient inorganic counterparts. In this report, we describe a 4-ms initial rise-time using a visible-transparent chromophore in a PVK- based polymer of Tg equals 39 degrees C for 48-V/micrometers bias projected along the grating vector and 250-mW/cm2 writing beams. This fast component consistently accounts for 90 percent of the steady-state response and is analyzed as a function of bias field. We also present transient ellipsometry measurements of an orientational response significantly faster than the grating development, suggesting that chromophores alignment sped does not limit transient grating formation. We describe the role of such underlying property measurements in understanding photorefractive transient behavior, and prospects for further improvements.
The refractive index modulation in photorefractive polymers with a low glass transition temperature is dominated by orientational birefringence effects. To take advantage of these effects we developed several photorefractive polymers that contain: (i) chromophores designed to have simultaneously a large dipole moment and a high linear polarizability anisotropy, (ii) nematic phase liquid crystal droplets, (iii) transparent molecules generally used for liquid crystal applications. We discuss recent advances in these three different classes materials and emphasize their merits and trade-off.
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