Photoinduced surface relief studies in an acrylamide-based photopolymer

Surface relief gratings (SRGs) have been optically recorded in a dry, self-developing acrylamide-based photopolymer. An investigation of the dependence of photoinduced surface relief amplitude and profile on recording intensity, UV post-exposure, thickness of the sample, composition of the photopolymer and temperature at constant spatial frequency was carried out using white light interferometry. Non-sinusoidal surface relief grating profiles which depend on sample thickness were observed at low spatial frequency. The surface relief effect is intended to be applied to the alignment of liquid crystals (LCs) for different applications such as voltage controllable diffraction gratings, lenses, polarizing components and switches.