High Performance Photorefractive Materials Based on Nematic-Like Mesophase Photoconductive Polymer

O-PIL KWON, SEONG-JI KWON, MOJCA JAZBINSEK, PETER GÜNTER, and SUCK-HYUN LEE

A new nematic-like mesophase photoconductive polymer PPT-TPA consisting of wholly aromatic rigid backbone of poly(pphenyleneterephthalate), PPT and pendent hole-transporting triphenylamine (TPA) groups attached to the ends of oxyalkyl spacers has been synthesized. The correlation between the mesophase structure and the optical/physical properties of the photorefractive composite is investigated by X-ray diffraction, photoconductive and photorefractive experiments. Despite a lower photoconductivity of the new photorefractive PPT-TPA composite, this material shows a higher photorefractive sensitivity S_n2 = 2 ± 0.2 cm2/kJ at E = 50 V/µm than the previously synthesized PPTCZ composite with a different photoconducting groups that exhibits a highly-ordered layered structure.