Photoetching of holographic gratings was performed on materials belonging to two families of compounds, exhibiting bidimensional and tridimensional structures. Fringes of poor quality only could be obtained on the Van der Waals face of quasi‐two dimensional (layered) semiconductors due to their high resistance to photocorrosion (WSe2), or large diffusion length of minority carriers along this face (InSe), while good morphological and optical contrasts were obtained on the surface of II — VI semiconductors. — Using a laser scanning setup, the photoresponse of Schottky diodes which were made from these semiconductors was used to convert optical information into electrical signal. The photoetched part exhibits an improved photoresponse, which produces electrical contrast between the two parts. This observation is used to transform optical information into an electrical signal. The diffusion length of minority carriers was determined from this photocurrent profile. Some applications for this method for holography and for optical data recording and its retrieval are discussed. Guidelines for materials' selection for this kind of application are proposed.