Photorefractivity in polymer-stabilized liquid crystals films.

We have shown that PSLCs are capable of forming photorefractive gratings that operate in the thick grating regime. Polymer stabilization alters the charge transport and trapping characteristics of LCs, resulting in longer lived gratings, while maintaining the advantages of high orientational birefringence within LCs. Furthermore, very low applied electric fields (800 V/cm) and low optical intensities (100 mW/cm{sup 2}) are required to create large photorefractive effects in these materials. It is expected that optimization of the redox potentials of the chromophores within the PSLCs will continue to improve the performance of these materials