Characterization of an acrylamide-based photopolymer for data storage utilizing holographic angular multiplexing

An acrylamide-based photopolymer formulated in the Centre for Industrial and Engineering Optics has been investigated with a view to further optimization for holographic data storage. Series of 18-30 gratings were angularly multiplexed in a volume of photopolymer layer at a spatial frequency of 1500 lines mm^-1. Since the photopolymer is a saturable material, an exposure scheduling method was used to exploit the entire dynamic range of the material and allow equal strength holographic gratings to be recorded. This investigation yielded the photopolymer M/# for moderately thin layers. Photopolymer temporal stability was also studied by measuring variations of material shrinkage, Bragg selectivity curve, and diffraction efficiency.