Volume phase hologography is used for the recording of refractive index patterns with the symmetry of a photonic crystal. As a recording material solid plates of PMMA, containing up to 10 wt% of residual monomer MMA doped with the photoinitiator titanocendichloride have been used. The mechanism for the formation of the desired refractive index pattern is the photoinduced residual polymerisation. The 2-dimensional patterns have been recorded in 2 subsequent steps using a 2-beam holgaphic setup. In a first step the recording process has been characterized for a single volume phase holographic grating with the grating constant Λ1. The recording procedure is optimized towards a short term exposure period of the order of a few seconds, followed by self-developing period. While the first pattern is developing the sample may be turned by an arbitrary angle Φ and a second volume phase grating with a different lattice constant Λ2 can be recorded. If e.g. an orthogonal crystalline symmetry is desired, the angle Φ will be chosen as Φ = 90°. After recording of the second grating the sample is developed and fixed by a thermal treatment. The obtained 2-D crystals are characterized using a goniometer with 2 rotary stages by the evaluation of the diffraction patterns. The different diffracted orders may be indexed according to their (h,k) Miller´s indices.

Date Published: 9 December 2004
PDF: 15 pages
Proc. SPIE 5578, Photonics North 2004: Photonic Applications in Astronomy, Biomedicine, Imaging, Materials Processing, and Education, (9 December 2004); doi: 10.1117/12.562602

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5578:
Photonics North 2004: Photonic Applications in Astronomy, Biomedicine, Imaging, Materials Processing, and Education
Marc Nantel; Glen Herriot; Graham H. McKinnon; Leonard MacEachern; Robert A. Weersink; Rejean Munger; Andrew Ridsdale, Editor(s)