Abstract

Optical phase conjugation in a high-performance photorefractive polymer-dissolved liquid crystal composite has been observed with a cw frequency-doubled Nd-YAG laser (532 nm) or He-Ne laser (633 nm). The degenerate four-wave mixing experiment enabled measurements of phase conjugate reflectance as a function of input beam intensities, applied electric field, and grating spacing. The refractive index modulation was estimated from the phase conjugate reflectance on the basis of the coupled wave theory including the absorption loss of the photorefractive media. Small input powers were sufficient for inducing a large refractive index modulation around 4.0 ×10-3.