Photorefractive polymer composites based on ruthenium (II) tetra-15-crown-5-phthalocyanate axially coordinating ethylisonicotinate molecules photosensitive in telecommunication range

Polyvinylcarbazole layers containing ruthenium (II) tetra-15-crown-5-phthalocyanate axially coordinating ethylisonicotinate molecules are found to have photoelectric and photorefractive sensitivity at 1550 nm. The effect is determined by the formation of supramolecular ensembles with the electronic optical absorption and photoelectric sensitivity in the near IR range up to 1600 or 1700 nm and nonlinear optical properties. A photorefractive two-beam coupling gain coefficient Γ measured at 1550 nm increases with an increase in the Ru(II) complex content in the polymer layer and equals 25 cm−1 at 6 wt %. The difference between the coupling gain and absorption coefficients (the actual gain coefficient) is Γ − α = 19 cm−1. Additionally introducing 3 wt % C60 fullerene into the layer does not change the characteristics, but the subsequent preirradiation (irradiation of the whole layer with a 633-nm laser beam in a range of the optical absorption of C60 before recording photorefractive curves) results in an increase in the gain coefficient at 1550 nm up to Γ = 48.3 cm−1 and, hence, in Γ − α = 42.3 cm−1. A time constant of the diffraction grating formation is about τ = 0.8 s.