Experimental Conditions to Obtain Photopolymerization Induced Phase Separation Process in Liquid Crystal-Photopolymer Composite Materials under Laser Exposure

Abstract

We analyze the experimental conditions necessary to obtain a photopolymerization induced phase separation process inside liquid crystal-photopolymer composite materials. Composites stored for 24 hours perform poorly in hologram recording but a good result is obtained if they are used recently prepared. We use a procedure combining heat and sonication to disarrange the liquid crystal structures formed during storage of the composite. We also propose incoherent light treatment after recording the hologram in order to evaluate if the phase separation evolved correctly during hologram recording.The work was supported by the “Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad” of Spain under Projects FIS2011-29803-C02-01 and FIS2011-29803-C02-02 and by the “Generalitat Valenciana” of Spain under Projects PROMETEO/2011/021 and ISIC/2012/013