Hybridized approach to new polymers exhibiting large photorefractivity

We report on a new photorefractive polymer that contains an ionic tri(bispyridyl) ruthenium complex as the charge generating species, a conjugated polymer backbone as the charge transporting channel, and a nonlinear optical chromophore. The ruthenium complex was introduced to utilize its efficient photoinduced metal-to-ligand charge transfer process. This polymer shows greatly enhanced photorefractive performance; a large net optical gain of about 200 cm−1 was obtained at a zero external electric field.