<title>Thermally stimulated current and electro-optic responses in stable photorefractive polymers</title>

Abstract

The polarization and depolarization behavior of electric field-induced polar alignment in a stable photorefractive polymer containing carbazole was measured by thermally stimulated current (TSC) and electro-optic (EO) modulation experiments. A relaxation peak was observed around the glass transition temperature (T<SUB>g</SUB>) for the poled photorefractive polymer in a TSC experiment. The apparent TSC was not observed at room temperature. The polarization calculated from the relaxation peak linearly increased with the strength of the poling electric field. This result was consistent with the EO behavior which showed the linear dependence of the EO coefficients on the poling electric field. The polar alignment induced by the electric field at an elevated temperature was stable at room temperature, which could lead to the long-term stability of the photorefractive responses without an external applied electric field.