We report recent improvements in the photorefractive of liquid crystalline thin film composites containing electron donor and acceptor molecules. The improvements primarily result from optimization of the exothermicity of the intermolecular charge transfer reaction and improvement of the diffusion characteristics of the photogenerated ions. Intramolecular charge transfer dopants produce greater photorefractivity and a 10-fold decrease in the concentration of absorbing chromophores. The mechanism for the generation of mobile ions is discussed
