Abstract

We shall report about photorefractive hybrid xerogel film that were, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, synthesised by the sol-gel process. The silica backbone possesses covalently anchored non-linear optical chromophores (disperse red one) and charge transporting groups (carbazole units). The starling solutions were obtained from copolymerization of carbazole- and DRl-attached silane monomers with tetraethoxysilane (TEOS). A small amount of 2,4,7-trinitrofluorenone was also added to increase the photosensitivity in the visible. Thin films of thicknesses ranging from 0.5 to 5 micrometers were deposited on ITO-recovered glass substrates using the spin-coating technique.

© 1996 IEEE