Effect of the chromophore donor group and ferrocene doping on the dynamic range, gain, and phase shift in photorefractive polymers

Photorefractive polymers doped with different concentrations of two chromophores were prepared. These chromophores have identical conjugation paths and acceptor groups, but differ in the nature of the electron donating groups. Electron donating group is either diethylamine or julolidine moieties. The julolidine group is the strongest electron donor, leading to a large dipole moment and smaller ionization potential.The polymers based on the chromophore with the diethylamine donor have a larger photorefractive phase shift, which increases with chromophore concentration. Addition of ferrocene results in a increase in the response time and a decrease in photorefractive phase shift.