Compositional Changes for Reduction of Polymerisation-Induced Shrinkage in Holographic Photopolymers

Polymerisation-induced shrinkage is one of the main reasons why many photopolymer materials are not used for certain applications including holographic optical elements and holographic data storage. Here, two compositional changes for the reduction of shrinkage in an acrylamide-based photopolymer are reported. A holographic interferometric technique was used to study changes in the dynamics of the shrinkage processes occurring in the modified photopolymer during holographic recording in real time. Firstly, the effect of the replacement of the acrylamide monomer in the photopolymer composition with a larger monomer molecule, diacetone acrylamide, on polymerisation-induced shrinkage has been studied. A reduction in relative shrinkage of 10-15% is obtained using this compositional change. The second method tested for shrinkage reduction involved the incorporation of BEA-type zeolite nanoparticles in the acrylamide-based photopolymer. A reduction in relative shrinkage of 13% was observed for acrylamide photopolymer layers doped with 2.5% wt. BEA zeolites in comparison to the undoped photopolymer.