Laser Written Permanent Gratings in a New Liquid Crystalline Organometallic Polymer

Abstract

Interest in materials for optical storage effect has been intense in the last years. In this paper we report the observation of permanent gratings in a new liquid crystalline side-chain polymer containing a mononuclear cyclopalladated azobenzene complex. Two-beam coupling experiments indicate photorefractive properties. A gain of 900 cm−1, without applied electric field, was determined by two beam coupling measurements. A significant feature of this high gain material is that this effect occurs in an easily processable pure compound.