Photorefractivity in a functional side-chain polymer.

An experimental study of the photorefractive effect in a polymeric material containing carbazole and the second-order tricyanovinylcarbazole moieties as a side chain is presented. This polymeric system exhibits intrinsically both photoconductivity and the electro-optic effect. Absorptive and photorefractive gratings have been evidenced by four-wave-mixing experiments and electro-optic measurements. The properties of the photorefractive gratings are studied by investigating the electric-field dependence of the diffraction efficiency. The dynamics of the erase-write behavior of the gratings, as well as permanent photobleaching of the polymer, are described.