AbstractPolymers have been in use for a long time as passive materials for components in electronics and electrooptics. They combine the possibility of easy processing with an infinite potential of functionalization. They can be conductors or semiconductors, ferroelectrics and can exhibit interesting properties such as photoconductivity, piezo, pyroelectricity or nonlinear optical properties. As a consequence they are now used for merging active components in the field of electrooptics such as displays, sensors or modulators for optical signal treatment.This paper describes the properties and applications of some recent polymers in the field of electroptics.In the first part of this paper the properties of amorphous copolymers with a pending group with large hyperpolarizability are described. These amorphous copolymers show high optical nonlinear coefficients after poling under an electric field. We have used these copolymers for the manufacture of an electrooptic modulator working at 1.3 μm at a frequency of 1 GHz.The second part deals with ferroelectric polymers and their pyroelectric properties. The realization and performance of an IR pyroelectric sensor using copolymers of polyvinylidene fluoride–ethylene trifluride are described. Some new results concerning polymersdispersed liquid crystals are also describ