We examine thermal distortions of volume holograms recorded in (meth)acrylate photopolymers doped with SiO(2) or ZrO(2) nanoparticles. A holographic method is used to evaluate the temperature-induced Bragg-angle detuning of recorded volume holograms as a result of thermally induced refractive index and dimensional changes. It is found that the incorporation of inorganic nanoparticles into photopolymer leads to the effective suppression of these thermal changes, thereby extending the range of operating temperatures for their use in photonic applications.
We report on measurements of thermal expansion coefficients and temperature-dependent refractive indices of nanoparticle-polymer composite films in which plane-wave volume holograms are recorded. These physical constants are evaluated for photopolymer films with the incorporation of inorganic nanoparticles or binder polymer. We show that the incorporation of inorganic nanoparticles in photopolymer is a very effective method to suppress temperature-dependent film-thickness and refractive-index changes as well as to increase the refractive index modulation and reduce polymerization shrinkage.
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