Photorefractivity of poly-N-vinylindole-based materials as compared with that of poly-N-vinylcarbazole-based blends

The asymmetric two-beam coupling technique has been employed to measure the photorefractivity of thin films of polymer blends containing 2,5-dimethyl-4-(p-nitrophenylazo)anisole as the nonlinear optical component. Poly-(1-vinylindole) and poly-(2,3-dimethyl-1-vinylindole) were the photoconductive polymer counterparts. The values of the photorefractivity are reported. It appears that they are comparable with those of similar blends based on the well-known poly-(9-vinylcarbazole) (PVK), here considered as a reference standard. Careful differential scanning calorimetry analyses have been accomplished on the different blends taken into account to rationalize the significantly longer shelf lifetime of the indolyl- based films with respect to the PVK-based blends. © 2006 Optical Society of America