A Facile Fabrication Route of Poly(Ethylene Glycol Phenyl Ether Acrylate) Photopolymers with Efficient Optical Response for Holographic Storage

A series of photopolymers based on ethylene glycol phenyl ethyl arylate (EGPEA) monomers and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix with varying initiator concentrations and sample thicknesses have been synthesized and their optical performance characterized in this study. The advantages of lowering the initiator concentration, including a rather short initiation time within a few seconds; a sharp rising optical response; and a stable saturated diffraction efficiency are demonstrated. The variation in the diffraction efficiency and response time with the exposure energy under various sample thickness and initiator concentrations is examined; a diffraction efficiency as high as 80% and a relatively short response time of 12–39 s are attainable. The dependence of the normalized optical parameter “sensitivity” on the exposure time is depicted, and the peak value of S ranges vastly from about 0.2 to 1.2 × 104 cm/J within a period of 15 s or so, with a maximum value of nearly 1.2 × 104. Favorable evidence of low initiator concentration can further be found when the dependence of the saturated diffraction efficiency with the exposure energy is examined. The data from this study using a low initiator concentration cover a range of exposure energy from 100 to 800 mJ/cm2 and a saturated diffraction efficiency from about 15% to 80%. The successful image reconstruction of 6-membered-ring metal nuts on a hologram based on this EGPEA/PMMA photopolymer system using a reflective holographic recording setup is demonstrated to verify its applicability to holographic storage.