New polymeric material containing the tricyanovinylcarbazole group for photorefractive applications

Abstract

We report on the synthesis and characterization of a new, completely polymeric material with a large electro-optic coefficient and photoconductivity. A methacrylic ester polymer containing the tricyanovinylcarbazole group with an alkylene spacer was synthesized. With 49 mW laser power, the photoconductivity of the polymer is 9.8×10−10 Ω−1 cm−1 at an applied electric field of 1.4×106 V/cm. Its electro-optic coefficient is 6.1 pm/V. The quantum efficiency of photocarrier generation and the photorefractive figure of merit were calculated. This electro-optic polymer is photoconductive and has photocarrier trap sites without any added sensitizer or photocarrier transport reagent, making it a suitable candidate for photorefractive applications.