A Review of Polarization-Sensitive Materials for Polarization Holography

Abstract

Polarization holography has the unique capacity to record and retrieve the amplitude, phase, and polarization of light simultaneously in a polarization-sensitive recording material and has attracted widespread attention. Polarization holography is a noteworthy technology with potential applications in the fields of high-capacity data storage, polarization-controlled optical elements, and other related fields. The choice of its high-performance materials is particularly important. To further develop polarization holography applications and improve the quality of the information recorded (i.e., material sensitivity and resolution), a deeper understanding of such materials is needed. We present an overview of the polarization-sensitive materials, which introduced polarization holographic technology and the development of polarization holographic materials. The three main types of polarization holographic materials are described, including azopolymer materials, photopolymer material, and photorefractive polymer material. We examine the key contributions of each work and present many of the suggestions that have been made to improve the different polarization-sensitive photopolymer materials.

Keywords: azopolymer materials; holographic recording; photoinduced birefringence; photopolymer; polarization-sensitive material.

Figure 1

Principle of the holographic recording and reading process: (a) holographic recording process; (b) holographic reconstruction process, SLM, spatial light modulation.

Figure 2

Interference field with the periodic change of the polarization states caused by two orthogonally linear polarized waves or two orthogonally circularly polarized waves.

Figure 3

Polarization multichannel multiplexing device: S, HWP, PBS, SLM, and COMS are the shutter, half-wave plate, polarization beam splitter, spatial light modulation, and complementary metal oxide semiconductor sensor, respectively.

Figure 4

The cis-trans isomerization process of azo materials.

Figure 5

The process of photopolymerization for the formation of holographic recording gratings.

Figure 6

Photoreaction principle of phenanthrenequinone (PQ)/PMMA polymer.

Figure 7

Experimental device for the diffraction efficiency of photopolymer materials. M, HWP, PBS, and PD are the mirror, half-wave plate, polarization beam splitter, and photodetector, respectively.