Surface relief gratings (SRGs) have been optically recorded in a dry, selfdeveloping acrylamide-based photopolymer. An investigation of the dependence of photoinduced surface relief amplitude and profile on recording intensity, UV postexposure, thickness of the sample, composition of the photopolymer and temperature at constant spatial frequency was carried out using white light interferometry. Nonsinusoidal surface relief grating profiles which depend on sample thickness were observed at low spatial frequency. The surface relief effect is intended to be applied to the alignment of liquid crystals (LCs) for different applications such as voltage controllable diffraction gratings, lenses, polarizing components and switches.

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Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) is a material promising for application in optical communications, diffractive optics and optical data storage. Diffraction gratings were optically recorded in a novel PDLC material developed at the Centre for Industrial and Engineering Optics. Details of the fabrication and preliminary results of electro-optical switching of the holographic PDLC (HPDLC) diffraction gratings are presented. The redistribution of LCs was observed by using phase contrast microscopy and confocal Raman spectroscopy.

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