Abstract

A new photoretractive polymeric composite operating at near 1R wavelength has been developed which contains an ionic thiapyrylium dye, 4-(4-dimethylaminophenyl)- 2,6-diphenylthiapyrylium perchlorate (TPY, 0.2 wt.%), as a photocharge generation sensitizer, 4-(N,N-diethylamino)-(β)-nitrostyrene (DEANST, ~21 wt.%) as a second-order nonlinear optical chromophore, and poly(9-vinyIcarbozale)(PVK, ~79 wt.%) as a host polymer as well as a charge transporting agent. Samples between 150-300 μm thick are prepared by sandwiching two films precast on 1TO glass substrates. The composite shows a photocharge generation quantum efficiency of 0.3%, a photoconductivity sensitivity of 5.4 × 10 ⁻¹¹ (Ω cm) ⁻¹/ (W/cm²) and an electrooptic coefficient (r₃₃) of 4.2 pm/V at an applied field of 62.5 V/μm. The glass transition temperature (T_g) of the composite was determined to be 53°C.

© 1994 Optical Society of America