We demonstrate permanent holographic storage in the green with high diffraction efficiency and recording sensitivity in TiO2 nanoparticle-dispersed methacrylate photopolymer films. It is shown that the diffraction efficiency as well as the recording sensitivity significantly increase with an increase of nanoparticle concentration. It is also found that volumetric shrinkage during holographic exposure is noticeably suppressed by inclusion of the nanoparticles.

We demonstrate and characterize volume holographic recording in ZrO(2) nanoparticle-dispersed acrylate photopolymer films that have very low scattering loss. More than thirty-fold reduction in the scattering coefficient, as compared with those of previously reported TiO(2) nanoparticle-dispersed photopolymers, is achieved. It is shown that the refractive index modulation as high as 5.3x10(-3), together with substantive photopolymerization-shrinkage suppression, is obtained at the nanoparticle concentration of 15 vol.%. Dependences of nanoparticle concentration and grating spacing on the refractive index modulation are also investigated.

We demonstrate volume holographic recording in silica-nanoparticle-dispersed methacrylate photopolymers with reduced scattering loss as low as 2%. This is made possible by use of 13-nm silica nanoparticles. As a result a net diffraction efficiency near 100% is achieved for a transmission volume hologram of 45-microm thickness. Grating buildup dynamics are measured for various nanoparticle concentrations, and the effects of nanoparticle size on refractive-index modulation and polymerization shrinkage are also evaluated.

We report on experimental verification of mass transfer of nanoparticles during holographic recording in nanoparticle-dispersed photopolymers. Through direct observations of the microscopic structure of recorded holograms as well as optical measurements of the phase shift between the light interference pattern and a recorded hologram we find that holographic exposure causes nanoparticles to be redistributed from bright to dark regions, leading to periodic assembly of nanoparticles and thereby to formation of high-contrast holograms.

We report an electron-probe microanalysis of a hologram recorded in a silica-nanoparticle-dispersed photopolymer film. We used S and Si atoms as label elements to identify formed polymer and nanoparticle species, respectively. It is found that the periodic density distributions of S and Si atoms are out of phase with each other, indicating that those of the formed polymer and nanoparticles are out of phase each other. This result shows decisive evidence of the mutual diffusion of monomer molecules and silica nanoparticles in the film under holographic two-beam interference exposure.