Abstract

Dynamic holographic materials such as photorefractives often have an exponential writing and erasure behavior. This has been incorporated in multiple exposure holographic scheduling for data storage.¹ We are investigating the consequences of non-exponential kinetics observed in dye-polymer holograms on storage capacity and exposure scheduling. The polymer in a dye-doped polymer system is used as a rigid matrix to hold the dye molecules and thereby increase the lifetime of the excited state and improve the sensitivity of the holographic material. Unlike in liquid solvents, the dye-doped system exhibits deviation from first-order kinetics below the glass transition temperature T_g. This phenomenon can be approximately described by a kinetic relaxation of the excited to ground state that follows the extended exponential functional form exp[−(t/τ)^α] (0 < α < 1).² We will present a recording scheme for multiplexed holograms in extended exponential media, which enables the reconstructing of each hologram with an equal diffraction efficiency. In addition we will show experimental results of multiple holographic storage in such extended exponential media.

© 1992 Optical Society of America