Dynamics of hologram recording in DuPont photopolymer

Several dynamical aspects of the DuPont photopolymer film HRF-150-38 for holographic storage are described. We study temporal aspects of exposure, exposure time, processing situations, and storage effect. The quantities studied are diffraction efficiencies, thickness changes, and Bragg angle. The experimental results are performed with an argon-ion laser at 514.5 nm.     

Dynamics during holographic exposure in photopolymers for single and multiplexed gratings

Abstract

Under the assumption that at low recording intensity the grating formation process is much slower than the free monomer diffusion, we present a model that describes the dynamics of the holographic grating formation in photopolymers. The model indicates how the beam intensity modulation influences the saturation value of the grating modulation, while the average recording intensity is related in a nonlinear fashion to the process time constant. An extension of this model describes and predicts the recording of a single grating in the presence of an additional mutually incoherent light beam, and the simultaneous recording of angularly mutliplexed gratings. The model is validated by comparing with experimental results obtained using DuPont HRF-150-38 photopolymer.     

Holographic polarization-selective module based on a small dove prism coupler for magneto-optical pickup heads

A new structure for polarization-selective elements, consisting of two holographic gratings and a Dove prism coupler, is proposed. The absence of a multistage waveguide and the benefits of compact size and lightweight volume are the outstanding features of the new structure. Based on the coupled-wave theory, the analysis and design of the structure are discussed in detail to calculate the required index modulation. Several parameters, such as the recording intensity, the exposure time, and the recording angles for the fabrication of the proposed element, are determined. Under these conditions, the element is fabricated in Dupont photopolymer HRF-150-38 material and with an operating wavelength of 532 nm. A simplified pickup head is constructed to evaluate the performance of the fabricated element.     

Holographic interference filters for infrared communications

We demonstrate that high-quality interference filters for the wavelength range 1300-1600 nm can be holographically fabricated in DuPont HRF-800X001 photopolymer material by use of visible laser illumination. We also summarize a chain-matrix technique, which we call thin-film decomposition, that is useful for modeling multilayer films with an arbitrary index profile n(z). We use the thin-film-decomposition technique to create design curves that allow one to choose the proper exposure angle and film thickness with which to fabricate a holographic interference filter with a desired transmission efficiency and bandwidth at a particular wavelength. These curves are of general utility and are not confined to any particular holographic recording medium. Excellent agreement between theory and experiment is found.     

Effects of apodization on a holographic demultiplexer based on a photopolymer grating

An investigation of the effects of apodization on a holographic demultiplexer that is based on a photopolymer grating is presented. Uniform and Gaussian apodized gratings are fabricated in a DuPont HRF-150-38 photopolymer. From the theoretical and experimental results, the spectral response of the apodized grating has a larger main lobe but lower sidelobes than those in the uniform-grating case. A 42-channel demultiplexer that is based on the Gaussian apodized grating with an 0.4-nm channel spacing is demonstrated. A cross-talk level of -30 dB and an interchannel uniformity of 1.5 dB are archived in the wavelength range of approximately 1550 nm.     

Characterization of photopolymerization by a holographic technique applied to a scattering hydrogel

A holographic technique, which consists of writing a phase grating onto a photopolymer layer and recording the time evolution of its diffraction efficiency, is presented for a scattering hydrogel. The influence of photopolymer thickness and writing laser intensity is investigated. Writing parameters that yield maximum diffraction efficiency are determined. A thickness greater than 1/3 of the scattering length results in the diffusion of light in the sample, leading to a decreased diffraction efficiency of the grating. This behavior can be explained by a combination of chemical diffusion and optical scattering. Finally, a calibration of diffraction efficiency with respect to a gel and sol fraction is presented.     

Diffraction efficiency and signal-to-noise ratio of diffuse-object holograms in real time in polyvinyl alcohol photopolymers

We studied the influence of the beam ratio and intensity on the optical quality of the transmission hologram images of diffuse objects stored in a photopolymer and reconstructed in real time. The signal-to-noise ratio and the diffraction efficiency were used as measures of the optical quality. We obtained a signal-to-noise ratio of 0.94 with a diffraction efficiency of 13% for a beam ratio of 20 and an intensity of 1.2 mW/cm(2).     

Reliability Study of Holographic Optical Elements Made with DuPont Photopolymer

We report reliability-test results of transmission-type holographic optical elements (HOE's) made with the DuPont photopolymer HRF-600. The reliability tests performed include 6000 cycles of liquid-to-liquid thermal-shock cycling (-55 degrees C-125 degrees C), 2200 cycles of air-to-air thermal cycling (-55 degrees C-125 degrees C), 1500 h of humidity testing (85 degrees C and a relative humidity of 85%), and 675 h of burn-in testing at 125 degrees C. A total of 210 holograms was tested, with 532 data points collected for diffraction-efficiency measurements. The results show that the average efficiency change after these tests is in the range of -4% to 0% and the standard deviation is only ~10%.     

Fabrication of switchable liquid crystal devices using surface relief gratings in photopolymer

Holographically recorded surface relief gratings in dry, self-developing acrylamide based photopolymer were used to fabricate two types of switchable liquid crystal (LC) device. One is an electrically switchable LC diffraction grating and the other is an electrically switchable polarization rotator. The electrically switchable diffraction grating was characterized by measuring the dependence of the intensity in the first diffracted order on the applied electric field. The polarization rotator was characterized by studying the influence of the applied electric field on the twist angle and the variation of intensity in the zero and the first orders of diffraction.     

Peculiarities of the angular selectivity of 3D holograms in the direction of nondispersive angular mismatch

Influence of the angular mismatch between the hologram and the reconstructing beam in the direction perpendicular to the plane of dispersion on the efficiency of diffraction was studied. It is demonstrated that angular detuning in this direction can lead to substantial increase of the intensity of the diffracted beam if the Bragg conditions are met. The results of calculation of the “anomalous” behavior of the diffraction efficiency are in good agreement with the experimental data for holograms recorded in the layers of a photopolymer.     

Image processing method to improve AOTF spectral resolution and spatial resolution

Abstract

An acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) causes the diffracted angle and wavelength to spread, leading to loss of resolution. The light intensity detected by a CCD pixel equals the true intensity plus the stray light caused by the spread of the wavelength and diffraction angle. Here, the true intensity is obtained using neighbourhood estimate recursive correction iteration, improving the spectral and spatial resolution. The spread of acoustic wave angles caused by diffraction is analysed. The reason for the spreads is analysed and derived. A method is reported for measuring the correspondence between the wavelength and diffraction angle spread, using an AOTF, an angle measurement spectrometer and a fibre spectrometer. The iterations’ stop condition is analysed. The improved theory is verified by an AOTF spectral imaging experiment.     

Co-doping with polysquaraine enhances the holographic optical data storage of PMMA/PQ photopolymers

In this study, we synthesised poly(3-octylpyrrole-co-squaric acid) (PSQ3), a polysquaraine, through the reaction of 3-octylpyrrole and squaric acid, and then co-doped it with phenanthrenequinone (PQ) into poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) to improve the holographic data storage characteristics of the photopolymer. The photopolymers co-doped with relatively small amounts of PSQ3 exhibited greatly improved holographic recording characteristics, including superior diffraction efficiency and dynamic range (M#). Among the samples co-doped with PQ and PSQ3, the maximum diffraction efficiency reached 54.8% (cf. 9.0% for PMMA/PQ) without further downgrade and the value of M# reached 1.05 (cf. 0.46 for PMMA/PQ). Therefore, the holographic data storage characteristics of the photopolymer PMMA/PQ were improved through co-doping with PSQ3.     

Reflective liquid crystal wavefront corrector used with tilt incidence

To allow angular separation of the beam reflected off a liquid crystal wavefront corrector from the incident beam, it is convenient to introduce a small incident angle. This avoids using a beam splitter and the associated energy losses. The effect of the tilt incidence on the liquid crystal wavefront corrector was investigated in this paper. For a parallel aligned liquid crystal wavefront corrector, a simplified model was established and used to analyze the change of the phase modulation under the tilt incidence. The simulated results showed that the effect of the tilt incidence on the phase modulation can be ignored when the angle of tilt incidence is less than 6 degrees. The phase modulation related to the incident angle was measured and the changing trend was similar to the calculated results. The effect of the tilt incidence on the diffraction efficiency of the liquid crystal wavefront corrector was also discussed. The simulated results indicated that the reduction of the diffraction efficiency is less than 1% for incidence angles under 3 degrees. Last, a closed loop correction experiment was done with an incident angle of 1 degrees. After correction, the averaged peak to valley (PV) and root mean square (RMS) of the wavefront were down to 0.15 lambda and 0.03 lambda, respectively, and a resolvable image was acquired.     

Recording of holographic diffraction gratings in photopolymers: Theoretical modelling and real-time monitoring of grating growth

Abstract

Recording of holographic volume diffraction gratings in Du Pont's photopolymer HRS-150 is studied theoretically and experimentally. Particular attention is paid to the dynamics of the recording process. The temporal evolution of holographic gratings is monitored for a range of illumination intensities in two ways: (i) by means of a multiple-exposure approach when intensity profiles of recording beams are uniform, many holographic exposures are necessary and each exposure is carried out for a particular value of the total illumination intensity; (ii) by means of a single-exposure approach when intensity profiles of recording beams are strongly Gaussian and a volume grating with spatially distributed diffraction efficiency arises, depending on a local (average) value of the total illumination intensity. The second approach proves to be a useful tool providing us very quickly with qualitative information about the dynamics of the recording process while the first one, which is much more time-consuming, is more reliable for quantitative evaluations. The grating evolution is analysed theoretically by means of the well known photopolymerization-diffusion model. Discrepancies are found between the model and experimental results for low illumination intensities while qualitative agreement is found for higher intensities. For a given grating period, the discrepancies are interpreted in terms of insufficient change of the refractive index due to photopolymerization for low illumination intensities.     

Measurements of holographic properties of bacteriorhodopsin films

Several different bacteriorhodopsin (BR) films are characterized with respect to general holographic properties. Experimental measurements include diffraction efficiency and sensitivity as functions of the writing intensity and grating frequency, hologram thermal-decay behavior, diffraction efficiency as a function of the grating tilt within the film and the modulation depth, and estimates of the refractive-index change from the diffraction-efficiency data. The films studied include those made from wildtype BR and the genetic variants D96N and D96N/T46V. The film holographic properties were found to be relatively insensitive to the grating frequency and the grating-tilt angle. The diffraction efficiency dropped off more sharply as a function of the modulation depth than did a purely linear medium, and only the hydrated wildtype film exhibited significant behavior variation with different writing intensities because of its short M-state lifetime. The maximum diffraction efficiency measured was approximately 7.5% for a hydrated D96N BR film. We also find that the hydrated BR films exhibit significantly higher refractive-index modulation than do dry films.     

Dynamic hologram recording characteristics in DuPont photopolymers

Hologram formation and diffusion reactions in photopolymer films are examined at different stages of exposure and at different spatial frequencies. Different properties of the grating formation process are evaluated from efficiency data, including the relative rates of diffusion and photoinitiated polymerization, dye absorption, and residual efficiency enhancement after UV curing. It was also found that gratings with larger periods (~1.4 mum) are susceptible to erasure effects with postexposure laser illumination. In addition, crossed gratings were found to have an extended dynamic range. This effect can have a significant impact on the number of holograms formed with rotational or peristrophic multiplexing.     

High efficiency panchromatic photopolymer recording material for holographic data storage systems

Studies carried out to gauge the potential of a metal-ion doped panchromatic photopolymer recording material for application in real-time holographic data storage is presented. The photopolymer films are spin coated on glass plates to ensure better surface uniformity. Volume holographic transmission gratings with peak diffraction efficiency of 80% could be stored in the photopolymer films of 100 μm thickness. An efficiency of 70% is achievable even for gratings recorded with exposure energy as low as 10 mJ/cm². A checkerboard pattern data page recorded in the photopolymer film using a defocused 4-f recording geometry could be reconstructed with good image quality. The experimental results illustrate the competency of the developed photopolymer for holographic data storage applications.     

Photopolymer system and its application to a color hologram

We present a new type of photopolymer system for recording reflection holograms. The photopolymer system with radical and cationic photopolymerization controlled by the wavelength of light gives us enhanced diffraction efficiencies and a balanced recording sensitivity (20-60 mJ/cm(2)) in the blue to red region of the spectrum. In color hologram recordings, diffraction efficiencies of ? 60% are obtained when a photopolymer film is used that is composed of different spectrally sensitive photopolymer layers.     

Peristrophic multiplexing studies in silver doped photopolymer film

The peristrophic multiplexing technique with rotation of the film in a plane normal to the bisector of the incident beams was employed for recording plane-wave transmission gratings at the same location of silver doped acrylamide photopolymer film. Both constant and variable exposure scheduling methods were adopted for storing gratings using a 632.8 nm HeNe laser. The diffraction efficiency (DE) and M number (M/#) obtained from both methods were compared to determine which method enabled the greatest number of gratings to be recorded with uniform diffraction efficiencies. By the variable exposure energy scheduling method, 30 nearly uniform plane wave gratings with M/# equal to 4.7, could be recorded in a 130 µm thick photopolymer layer.     

Investigation on the panchromaticity of silver-doped poly(vinyl alcohol)/acrylamide photopolymer

An investigation on the panchromaticity of a silver-doped poly(vinyl alcohol)/acrylamide photopolymer system is presented in this paper. Frequency-doubled Nd:YAG (532 nm) and Ar? (488 nm) lasers were used for the characterization of the films. Previous studies using an He-Ne laser (632.8 nm) showed that plane-wave transmission grating with a high diffraction efficiency of 75% could be stored in the optimized film. From the present study, it was noted that transmission gratings with 70% diffraction efficiency could be recorded using Ar? and Nd:YAG lasers, thereby elucidating the possibility of using the developed photopolymer system as a competent panchromatic recording medium.