Photorefractive materials are able to attenuate low power rays better than other passive non-linear optical devices. Compared to active protection the photorefractives need neither external energy source nor laser warning receiver. In 1990 photorefractive concepts for sensor protection were known. These ideas, however, were then considered not applicable in Sweden. The major drawback turned out to be that the physical process was too slow. Recently the interest in photorefractive materials seems to have grown among researchers. This report thus elaborates on the potential of photorefractive protection as an alternative to active protection concepts. The conclusion is that the photorefractive materials still do not posses the necessery speed to be competitive in optical sensor protection applications at visual wave lengths.