Organic photorefractive composite dynamics

Abstract

Several devices such as holographic memory elements and adaptive optical components benefit from a rapid rate of recording of diffraction gratings. In reorientationally-enhanced photorefractive materials1'1, the total electro-optic response is due to a combination of the electronic electro-optic effect (or Pockels effect) and the reorientation of polar birefringent molecules in the presence of the local electric field. This reorientational effect can be significantly larger than the Pockels effect in these materials, but may be slow due to the characteristic reorientation times of these polar molecules. This effect depends largely on the reorientational mobility of the molecules, which correlates with the material viscosity.