Holographic reflection gratings in azobenzene polymers.

Writing and reading of reflection gratings in films of an azo side-group polymer are reported. The gratings were induced holographically by use of an argon-ion laser at 488 nm. The measured diffraction efficiency was in the range 2-10%. To estimate the scattering of the reflected light within the material, we further characterized the gratings by calculating a characteristic transmission. A distinct minimum for this transmission was observed, which was redshifted farther from the writing wavelength for gratings written in 50-microm polymer samples.