Abstract

Photoanisotropic organic volume holograms are produced by uniformly distributing photoresponsive dye molecules throughout the volume of a polymer host. These dye molecules undergo reversible photochemically induced structural transformations when suspended in a suitable solid-polymer matrix, producing pronounced anisotropic index changes and allowing the dynamic recording of holograms when exposed to suitable interference patterns. These materials have extremely high resolution because the photoinduced changes of the material properties occur at the molecular level, and polarization recording is possible because of anisotropic absorption. The high resolution and high diffraction efficiency possible with thin azo-dye/PVA materials¹ present several unique opportunities for optical processing applications, which we are exploiting.

© 1990 Optical Society of America