Three-dimensional gratings formed in photocrosslinkable polymer liquid crystals using surface photoreaction

Abstract

Diffraction gratings were recorded in photocrosslinkable polymer liquid crystal (PCLC) films by means of polarization holography. The diffraction properties of the formed gratings were quite different with the film thickness. As the reason, it was considered that the photoreaction took place intensively at the film surface because of the intensity of the irradiated light was attenuated by the absorption of the film. The induced reorientation was investigated by analyzing the diffraction properties of the gratings. The results indicated that three-dimensional gratings, which are formed by spatial reorientation distributions, can be recorded in the PCLC film.