Recent Advances in Understanding and Development of Photorefractive Polymers and Glasses

Abstract

The photoconductive, orientational, and photorefractive properties of monolithic glasses based on new nonlinear optical chromophores containing a 2-dicyanomethylene-3-cyano-2,5-dihydrofuran (DCDHF) acceptor group are presented. Large net gain coefficients are observed in both red and infrared wavelength regions. The physical and optical properties of glasses based on various DCDHF-containing derivatives are compared and analyzed, and the factors limiting steady-state and dynamical photorefractive performance are discussed.

Enhanced Photorefractivity of Poly(N‐vinylcarbazole)‐Based Composites through Electric‐Field Treatments and Ionic Liquid Doping

“…For example, at 50 V mm À1 our unsensitized PVK2-P-BAC-based composite shows G net and G values of 101 cm À1 and 110 cm À1 respectively, much larger than the best results obtained with PVKbased composites sensitized with nanoparticles of CdTe (G net ¼ 23 cm À1 and G ¼ 28 cm À1 , at 40V mm À1 ) or of CdSe (G net ¼ 22 and G ¼ 36 cm À1 , at 60 V mm À1 ). [30] Moreover, the performance of other type of PR materials studied in the literature such as organic glasses [31] or layer-structured photoconducting polymers, [32] typically sensitized with C 60 , could be perhaps improved by the usage of BAC or other types of ionic liquids. Thus, results shown in this work open a new route to improve the PR performance, not only of PVK-based composites, but also of other types of organic materials, the main advantage being that no sensitizer is needed, thus net gain coefficients can be significantly increased.…”

Photorefractive Performance of Hyperstructured Cyclotriphosphazene Molecular Glasses containing Carbazole Moieties

“…Of these, organic molecular glasses are considered very promising since they possess many advantages, such as a simple synthetic approach, a well-defined molecular structure, long-term stability with high chromophore concentration, and the best PR performance. [9] The main disadvantages of molecular glasses are their slow PR dynamics, which are related to slow chromophore reorientation in the electric field due to the small molecule size, tight packing of the molecules, intermolecular dipole-dipole interactions, and low mechanical properties owing to their low molar mass.…”

Novel Chromophore‐Functionalized Poly[2‐(trifluoromethyl) adamantyl acrylate‐methyl vinyl urethane]s with High Poling Stabilities of the Nonlinear Optical Effect

“…A similar chromophore for low voltage electro-optic modulation in amorphous polycarbonate as host material was studied by Ermer et al [18] Chromophores based on the same acceptor were used as glasses for the development of photorefractive polymers by Moerner and coworkers. [19] To obtain this chromophore, a modified procedure of Wang et al [15] was employed. Poly-(2-(trifluoromethyl)adamantyl acrylate-methyl vinyl isocyanate) was synthesized as a polymer backbone and was functionalized with the hydroxyalkyl chromophore.…”