Real-time characterization of gelatin doped with potassium dichromate as a photosensitive material

Abstract

Dichromated gelatins are commonly fabricated with ammonium dichromate as a sensitizer. A lesscommon alternative is to employ potassium dichromate, due to the unable characterization information of such process. This article aims to prove the efficiency of potassium dichromate as a sensitizer in dichromated gelatins without a development process. The study was performed measuring in real-time the diffraction efficiency of holographic gratings recorded in gelatin sensitized with potassium dichromate as a photosensitive material. The holographic gratings were recorded with an Ar laser with a 532 nm wavelength varying parameters in the photosensitive material such as cell thickness, concentration between gelatin and potassium dichromate as well as the angle of interference between the two light beams and the laser power. The optimum parameters combination yielded a 19% of diffraction efficiency at the first diffraction order and allowed to record Fourier holograms. The results obtained prove the good performance of potassium dichromate as a sensitizer. Furthermore, the recording of holograms in the dichromated gelatin proposed here could be a very efficient way to make diffractive elements for uncomplicated practices in university laboratories due to it can be massively produced in any laboratory with minimum requirements at low cost.