We report on the photorefractive properties of a lowTgcomposite consisting of functionalized polysiloxane doped with a chalcone derivative. The high transparency of this doping molecule enabled the observation of high net gain at 514 nm. Orientational and Pockels contributions to the total refractive index variations were measured by frequency-dependent ellipsometry experiments. Finally, the field dependence of the gain coefficient is described using Kukhtarev’s model for the space charge field with an effective trap density as a single fitting parameter. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.