Fully Functionalized Photorefractive Polymethacrylates with Net Gain at 780 nm

Abstract

We report on the synthesis and characterization of three fully functionalized photorefractive polymethacrylates containing different chromophores. Carbazole- and NLO-functionalized methacrylate monomers in a 1:1 ratio were polymerized with 20 mol % of dodecyl methacrylate to obtain photorefractive polymers. The resulting polymers had glass transition temperatures of 48, 47, and 52 °C, respectively. Asymmetric two-beam-coupling and four-wave-mixing experiments at 780 nm and three different temperatures pointed out that the resulting polymers, doped with 1 wt % (2,4,7-trinitro-9-fluorenylidene)malononitrile (TNFDM), showed good photorefractive properties. A net two-beam coupling gain and a diffraction efficiency of 60% were observed at 58 V/μm.