Optical properties of a photopolymer with large refractive index modulation for holographic application

Abstract

Optical transparency and high diffraction efficiency are two essential factors for high performance of the photopolymer. Optical transparency mainly depends on the miscibility between polymer binder and photopolymerized polymer, while diffraction efficiency depends on the refractive index modulation between polymer binder and photopolymerized polymer. For most of organic materials, the large refractive index difference between two polymers accompanies large structural difference that leads to the poor miscibility and thus poor optical quality via light scattering. Therefore, it is difficult to design a high-performance photopolymer satisfying both requirements. In this work, we prepared a new phase-stable photopolymer with large refractive index modulation and investigated the optical properties. Our photopolymer is based on modified poly (methyl methacrylate) as a polymer binder, acryl amide as a photopolymerizable monomer, triethanolamine as initiator, and yellow eosin as a photosensitizer at 532nm. Diffraction efficiency over 85% and optical transmittance over 90% were obtained for the photopolymer.