Holographic grating by means of polymer liquid crystals

AbstractFormation of intensity gratings was studied with two s‐polarized (s+s) configuration in polymer liquid crystals (PLCs) containing a photochromic moiety (azobenzene) and a mesogenic unit (tolane, T‐AB; cyanobiphenyl, CB‐AB) by photoinduced alignment of PLCs. Remarkable differences were observed between the two PLCs. T‐AB showed a faster response to the change in the diffraction intensity than CB‐AB. In T‐AB, alignment change took place faster than that of CB‐AB. By introducing the tolane unit at the side chain, we obtained a diffraction efficiency of 30 % in the Raman‐Nath regime