Abstract:

We report here on the fabrication and optimization of composites of conjugated polymer in Sol-Gel and PVA matrices. FTIR spectroscopy as well as other observations show that efficient phase and absorption holograms can be created in the material upon illumination, via the photochromic effect. The main contribution to the absorption change is chain scission and photo-oxidation mechanism. Optimized holographic composites with diffraction efficiencies as high as 26% are shown. Beam interaction between the writing beams is observed for these composites, while the diffraction efficiencies was improved by an order of magnitude.