Photorefractive polymers with superior performance

The advantages of devices used for reducing the applied poling voltage required in photorefractive polymers is described. Photorefractive materials are used in applications in beam-cleanup and amplification, real-time image processing, optical phase conjugation, pattern recognition, 3D displays and novelty filters. The use of two-photon absorption (TPA) processes improves the diffraction efficiency to 40 percent and maintain near-video-rate response time. The devices provide the advantage of nondestructive readout with cw laser light and also increases the operating wavelength.