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Photochromic Liquid Hydrogels as Hosts for Holographic Materials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

R. L. White ,
Y. Y. Hsu ,
T. M. Cooper ,
J. D. Gresser ,
D. L. Wise  and
D. J. Trantolo
R. L. White
Affiliation:
Cambridge Scientific, Inc., 195 Common Street, Belmont, MA 02178
Y. Y. Hsu
Affiliation:
Cambridge Scientific, Inc., 195 Common Street, Belmont, MA 02178
T. M. Cooper
Affiliation:
Materials Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433
J. D. Gresser
Affiliation:
Cambridge Scientific, Inc., 195 Common Street, Belmont, MA 02178
D. L. Wise
Affiliation:
Center for Biotechnology Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115
D. J. Trantolo
Affiliation:
Cambridge Scientific, Inc., 195 Common Street, Belmont, MA 02178
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Abstract

The goal of this project is to develop, fabricate, and test advanced optical materials for potential applications to real-time holography based on liquid crystalline polymer hydrogels. In this project, we are investigating the feasibility of increasing holographic capacity and lifetime by coupling a photochromic spyropyran dye to in a liquid crystalline polymer in which cholesteric order has been ‘captured.’ ‘Capture’ is being approached using a unique in-plane poling process with the helical polypeptide poly(α-benzyl-L-glutamate), PBLG, a biopolymer which is capable of maintaining cholesteric order in a liquid crystalline state. Subsequent in situ crosslinking of this aligned biopolymer is projected to offer increased birefringence of the host in the writing of a hologram. Given that a key issue is the magnitude of the real component of the refractive index, increasing the bireflingence may be a useful approach. In writing the hologram, the liquid crystals (LC's) go from isotropic to an ordered dispersion, a property which can be captured via crosslinking to improve holographic lifetime. In the following, the characterization of an aligned host LC system based on the biopolymer poly(α-benzyl-L-glutamate), PBLG, is presented. Inplane alignment is shown to depend on a number of variables, most notably the choice of solvent, polymer molecular weight, and field strength. The results show that optimal alignment of the PBLG LC is achieved with a 2.5% (w/w) concentration of a 118kD biopolymer in methylene chloride in an applied field of 10 kV/cm. Subsequent work will exploit this system as a host for a spiropyran dye for improved holographics.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 488: Symposium J – Electrical, Optical & Magnetic Properties of Organic IV , 1997 , 453
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1998

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References

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