Study on dynamics of laser-induced birefringence in azo dye doped polymer films

Abstract Dynamics of laser-induced birefringence in azo dye doped polymer films were investigated with high accuracy. There were three kinds of response time in both rise and decay curves. The three-step process originating in photochemical and photothermal properties in the azo dye doped polymer was presented and the experimental results were discussed on the basis of the three-step mechanism. The response characteristics were strongly dependent on the glass transition temperatures (Tg) of the azo dye doped polymers although the glass transition temperatures were considerably higher than the measured temperature. These experimental results also support the three-step mechanism qualitatively.