Poly[N-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-vinylcarbazole has been synthesized by radical polymerization from N-(2-ethylhexyl)3-vinyl-carbazole. The 50-mu m thick photorefractive device containing 30 wt% piperidin-4-ylbenzylidene-malononitrile showed a diffraction efficiency of 40% of 50 V/mu m, which corresponded to a Delta n of 0.8 x 10(-3). The photorefractive response time was tau(1) = 0.6 s. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 1695-1702, 2009