By using the moving grating technique, without an applied electric field, it is possible to significantly increase the steady‐state two‐beam coupling gain in photorefractive Sn2P2S6. Another technique of gain enhancement consists of cooling of the sample to −30 °C. The measured data confirm the existence of two out‐of‐phase gratings in Sn2P2S6generated by charge carriers of different sign, with relaxation times of 70 ms and 500 s. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.