Photosensitive Polymer Material for Volume and Relief Phase Holographic Recording in a Wide Spectral Range

Abstract

The phase response of a new polymer with anthracene side-groups was shown experimentally to be created by their photooxidation and photodimerization. Both photoreactions lead to approximately equal photorefraction in the volume of the material (∆n ≈ –0.02 for λ = 633 nm) and formation of a photorelief on the layer surface. Estimation of the refractive index modulation depth in the structure of the two-dimensional holographic gratings indicates the possibility of achieving maximum diffraction efficiency, which is limited for three-dimensional gratings by their nonsinusoidality. This polymer and its compositions with various photosensitizers in thin (~1 μm) layers were shown to effectively form surface photoreliefs with spatial frequency up to 1000 mm^–1 and amplitude up to 25% of the layer thickness when using post-exposure reversible plasticization. Our experiments showed that the resistance of the surface reliefs to the action of temperatures above 90oC can be increased manyfold by photocross-linking the material of the formed relief material.