Composite Photorefractive Materials

Photorefractive materials are by far the most efficient NLO materials for many of the most dramatic and potentially useful phenomena of nonlinear optics at low powers. Unfortunately, the existing photorefractive materials with large nonlinearities (LiNbO3, KNbO3, and BaTiO3) are far too slow, and those with fast response time (CdTe,GaAs, and Bi12SiO2) have low optical nonlinearity. Development of new organic or inorganic photorefractive materials which are fast and highly nonlinear has been hindered by the necessity for photoconductivity, the electro-optic effect, and partially full deep traps. Foster-Miller's new approach to photorefractive materials will produce materials with fast reponse time and large nonlinearities. A range of photorefractive materials will be designed using the best photoconductive and electrooptic (polymer) materials for specific applications and wavelengths.