We report the use of a low concentration polymer network to stabilize electric field-induced diffraction gratings in cholesteric liquid crystals. The stabilized gratings can be electrically switched between a zero-field “on” state, which exhibits approximately 75&percent; diffraction efficiency, and a moderate field (typically 3 V/&mgr;m) “off” state. Grating spacings between 1.7 and 30 &mgr;m are obtained in a 10 &mgr;m thick cell by variation of the concentration of chiral dopant used to form the cholesteric liquid crystal. ©1998 American Institute of Physics.