Infrared-Sensitive Photorefractive Polymer Composite Devices

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Polymer composites that are photorefractive at visible and near- infrared wavelengths, and devices that exploit their photorefractivity, have been demonstrated. Potential applications for such devices could include real-time holography, medical imaging, imaging through light-scattering media, and beam cleanup in free-space optical communications. Especially notable products of this development effort include devices that exhibit one-photon photorefractivity with high diffraction efficiency at a wavelength of about 1 μm and devices that exhibit two-photon photorefractivity at a wavelength of about 1.5 μm. The polymer composites used in these devices are the first-demonstrated all-organic photorefractive materials suitable for wavelengths >0.83 μm, and are among the best infrared-sensitive photorefractive materials yet demonstrated under similar experimental conditions.