Synthesis and characterization of photochromic organic films for holographic recording.

Polymer films doped with 2-(5, 5-dimethyl-3-styryl-cyclohex-2-enylidene)-malononitrile chromophore and various sensitizers have been prepared and characterized. The material exhibits high sensitivity in the red region (S=0.26 cm(2)/J at lambda=633 nm), a large dynamic range (Dn=-0.05) , and large transient two-beam coupling gain (G=110 cm(-1)) . Self-diffraction effects, such as energy and phase coupling, and photoinduced scattering are studied.