Optical Properties of Electrically Tunable Two-Dimensional Photonic Lattice Structures Formed in a Holographic Polymer-Dispersed Liquid Crystal Film: Analysis and Experiment

Abstract

We report on theoretical and experimental investigations of optical wave propagations in two-dimensional photonic lattice structures formed in a holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (HPDLC) film. In the theoretical analysis we employed the 2 × 2 matrix formulation and the statistical thermodynamics model to analyze the formation of anisotropic photonic lattice structures by holographic polymerization. The influence of multiple reflections inside an HPDLC film on the formed refractive index distribution was taken into account in the analysis. In the experiment we fabricated two-dimensional photonic lattice structures in an HPDLC film under three-beam interference holographic polymerization and performed optical measurements of spectral transmittances and wavelength dispersion. We also demonstrated the electrical control capability of the fabricated photonic lattice structure and its dependence on incident wave polarization. These measured results were compared with the calculated ones by means of photonic band and beam propagation calculations.

Holographic waveguides in photopolymers

“…Their wide potential in photonics and communications have been long and extensively studied. There are interesting applications and development in diffractive optics [2,3], optical communications [4], photonic crystal [5], holographic data storage [6], sensors [7], solar concentrators [8], wearable eyeglasses [9] and waveguides [10,11]. This last application can be designed as a tool or supporting technology for more complicated displays, such as photovoltaic concentrators or see-through eyeglasses [12].…”

Analysis of the Imaging Characteristics of Holographic Waveguides Recorded in Photopolymers

“…If one assumes small changes of thickness, differencing Equations (14) and (15) in combination with Equations (12) and (13), the following relation is obtained [26]:…”

“…Photopolymer materials have long been used as holographic recording material. There is great knowledge of its behavior, and they are useful in a great number of applications, such as diffractive optics [12,13], optical communications [14], photonic crystal [15] or sensors [16], among others. The process of hologram formation has also been greatly studied, and this is basically due to a competition between monomer diffusion and polymerization [17][18][19][20], although other ways of inscription of holographic information in photopolymer materials have been reported [21][22][23].…”

Complex Diffractive Optical Elements Stored in Photopolymers

“…The advantages of photopolymers as recording media for holographic applications and fabrication of photonic devices, such as waveguides, diffractive optical elements (DOEs) or 2-dimensional photonic structures have been widely discussed [1][2][3]. One of the most used materials for these applications is the one based on polyvinyl alcohol/acrylamide (PVA/AA).…”