Orientational photorefractive properties in polymer dispersed liquid crystals with different polymer matrix

We report orientational photorefractive effects observed in photoconductive liquid crystals (LCs) contained with three kinds of polymer, i.e., poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and a side-chain liquid crystalline polymer (SLCP1). The morphology of the photorefractive composites depended on the kind of polymer strongly. In both PMMA and PVA cases, LC and polymer were phase-separated and the composites showed memory effects. In SLCP1 case, the phase-separation in the composite dose not occur and the high resolution could be achieved. In this case, the photorefractive Bragg gratings were generated and a high two-beam coupling gain coefficient (75 cm(-1)) with a low applied field of 4 V/mu m was observed.