Characterization of volume holographic recording in photopolymerizable nanoparticle-(thiol-ene) polymer composites at 404 nm

Abstract

We report on the photopolymerization dynamics and the volume holographic recording properties of a thiol-ene based nanoparticle-polymer composite (NPC) doped with a blue-sensitive photoinitiator, Darocur® TPO, by using a highly coherent blue diode laser operating at a wavelength of 404 nm. Our study indicates that volume gratings recorded in the NPC amount to meeting the material requirements of refractive index modulation and material recording sensitivity for holographic data storage media. It is also found that polymerization shrinkage of recorded NPC gratings is higher than that of the same thiol-ene based NPC with a green (523 nm)-sensitive photoinitiator, Irgacure® 784/BzO2. We attribute such a difference in shrinkage to the photopolymerization dynamics at these recording wavelengths. We show that this shrinkage increase at 404 nm can be mitigated to some extent by controlling the thiol-ene stoichiometry in the NPC.