We report a study of the steady‐state photoconducting properties in the conjugated polymer poly(2,5‐dimethoxy‐p‐phenylene vinylene) using the sandwich and surface cell configurations. The photocurrent spectral response in both the configurations is nearly identical with the onset of the photocurrent around the band edge. The rise in the photocurrent is more gradual than the increase in absorption with respect to the photon energy and the peaks in the photocurrent responses are separated from the absorption maxima by nearly 1 eV. The chopper frequency, electric field, and the intensity dependence of the photocurrent are remarkably different for the two configurations. We speculate on the mechanisms leading to such differences. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.