Observation of the photorefractive effect in a polymer

We report the first observation of the photorefractive effect in a polymeric material, the electro-optic polymer bisphenol-A-diglycidylether 4-nitro-1,2-phenylenediamine made photoconductive by doping with the hole-transport agent diethylamino-benzaldehyde diphenylhydrazone. The gratings formed exhibit dynamic writing and erasure, strong electric-field dependence, polarization anisotropy, and estimated space-charge fields up to 26 kV/cm at an applied field of 126 kV/cm. Application of similar concepts should provide a broad new class of easily fabricated photorefractive materials