US Patent 8018648 - Nanoparticle doped hybrid photorefractives

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8018648.html

The photorefractive effect is a nonlinear optical phenomena used in holography. This patent from the U.S. Air Force teaches how nanoparticles can be useful to enhance a gain media and improve performance of photorefractive hybrid cells. Claim 1 reads:

1. A photorefractive hybrid cell comprising a window and a gain media disposed adjacent the window, the gain media having nanoparticles therein, wherein the nanoparticles include a material which dynamically reorients in the presence of an electric or magnetic field.