Diffraction gratings inside bulk azodye-doped hybrid inorganic–organic materials by a femtosecond laser

Abstract

We have investigated diffraction gratings fabricated inside bulk azodye-doped hybrid inorganic–organic materials by a focused near-IR 800 nm femtosecond laser directly. The first-order diffraction of the grating was measured using a 632.8 nm He–Ne laser. By changing the laser parameters such as the laser power, the scanning speed, and the grating period, we found that the first-order Bragg diffraction efficiency was strongly dependent on the parameters of the femtosecond laser. The results showed that the first-order Bragg diffraction efficiency can be increased when decreasing the laser power or increasing the grating periods and the scanning speed of the laser. The mechanisms were also analyzed briefly.