Measurement of photorefractive phase shift in mesogenic composites

Abstract

Photorefractive phase shifts in high-performance photorefractive mesogenic composites were determined, and trap-limited space-charge fields were estimated. It is demonstrated that photorefractive mesogenic composites show high performance although the space-charge field is considerably low in comparison with other kinds of photorefractive materials which show no mesophase. This means that the high performance of photorefractive mesogenic composites originates in the easy reorientation of mesogen under a low electric field.