Molecular glasses of azobenzene for holographic data storage applications

Zariņš, Elmārs; Balodis, K. A.; Rudušs, Armands; Kokars, Valdis; Ozols, Andris; Augustovs, Pēteris; Saharovs, Dmitrijs

doi:10.1016/j.optmat.2018.03.020

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Among them, azobenzene-based materials, due to their unique photo-responsive features, have attracted great attention for the remote and flexible control of materials properties via light stimulation. [7,8] The light response is triggered by photoisomerization of the azobenzene units using UV or visible irradiation, [9] providing the basis for a variety of photonic applications such as energy storage, [10,11] holographic recording, [12][13][14] soft robotics, [15,16] dynamic control of surface topology in liquid crystalline elastomers [17] and nonlinear optics [18,19] where, in particular, photoinduced reorientation allows for all-optical poling. [20] As one striking example, by controlling the impinging light configuration, the photoinduced processes in azobenzene-containing thin films invoke material mass migration that leads to the formation of topographic surface patterns, a prominent example being surface-relief grating (SRG) formation upon irradiation with a light interference pattern.…”

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confidence: 99%

Surface Stability of Azobenzene‐Based Thin Films in Aqueous Environment: Light‐Controllable Underwater Blistering

Audia

Fedele

Tone

et al. 2022

Adv Materials Inter

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potential in applications such as additive manufacturing, civil engineering, and biomedicine. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Among them, azobenzene-based materials, due to their unique photo-responsive features, have attracted great attention for the remote and flexible control of materials properties via light stimulation. [7,8] The light response is triggered by photoisomerization of the azobenzene units using UV or visible irradiation, [9] providing the basis for a variety of photonic applications such as energy storage, [10,11] holographic recording, [12][13][14] soft robotics, [15,16] dynamic control of surface topology in liquid crystalline elastomers [17] and nonlinear optics [18,19] where, in particular, photoinduced reorientation allows for all-optical poling. [20] As one striking example, by controlling the impinging light configuration, the photoinduced processes in azobenzene-containing thin films invoke material mass migration that leads to the formation of topographic surface patterns, a prominent example being surface-relief grating (SRG) formation upon irradiation with a light interference pattern. [21][22][23][24] SRGs show great promise as diffractive photonic elements, [25,26] biosensing substrates, [27] or as nano-/microfabrication templates. [28][29][30] The micron-scale periodicity of SRGs renders them an excellent fit for biological systems, many of which are composed of cells that are extremely sensitive to mechanical and topographic features of the surrounding microenvironment. [31,32] Hence, there is a growing interest in the use of azobenzene-based materials as smart bio-interfaces for cell culture. [33][34][35] The native extracellular matrix (ECM) of soft tissue is composed of entangled fibrous proteins, [36,37] as reproduced also in many synthetic ECM products. [38] Furthermore, ECM is continuously remodeled by the cells in physiological and pathological conditions. [39] Sinusoidal SRGs and embossed pillars in azobenzene thin films have been used for mimicking the ECM texture and controlling cellular directional migration in single and multiple cells, [40][41][42] directing axonal extension, [43,44] and determining stem cell fate. [45] The most exciting characteristic provided by azobenzenebased systems lies in the reversibility of the photoinduced processes. It is well known that SRGs recorded in thin films can be erased by heating the sample above the glass transition temperature (T g ). [46,47] SRGs can be also efficiently erased and re-inscribed optically by using single-beam irradiation [24,48,49] or Azobenzene-based light-responsive thin films are emerging as appealing candidates for smart cell-culture substrates. Their attraction lies in the fact that they can be reversibly photo-patterned, providing a route for dynamically mimicking the remodeling of the extracellular matrix. However, since the cells need to be cultured in aqueous environment, a key parameter in the layout of any biological application is the stability of the surface underwater. In this work, the authors perform a detail...

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confidence: 99%

Surface Stability of Azobenzene‐Based Thin Films in Aqueous Environment: Light‐Controllable Underwater Blistering

Audia

Fedele

Tone

et al. 2022

Adv Materials Inter

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“…Since the discovery of azobenzene's isomerization in 1937 [1], it has shown great potential for use in liquid crystals [2][3][4][5][6][7][8], sensors [9][10][11][12][13], molecular photoswitches [8,[14][15][16][17][18], information storage [19][20][21], etc. due to its unique and remarkable properties, including the ability to undergo reversible cis-trans isomerization upon photo-irradiation at specific wavelengths.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluorescent Azobenzene-Containing Compounds: From Structure to Mechanism

et al. 2021

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The reversible photoisomerization of azobenzenes has been extensively studied to construct systems with optical responsiveness; however, this process limits the luminescence of these compounds. Recently, there have been many efforts to design and synthesize fluorescent azobenzene compounds, such as inhibition of electron transfer, inducing aggregation, and metal-enhancement, which make the materials ideal for application in fluorescence probes, light-emitting devices, molecular detection, etc. Herein, we review the recently reported progress in the development of various fluorescent azobenzenes and summarize the possible mechanism of their fluorescence emission. The potential applications of these materials are also discussed. Finally, in order to guide research in this field, the existing problems and future development prospects are discussed.

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“…13 Nazmieva et al have developed new nonlinear optical (NLO) polymers with NLO activity based on epoxy-amine oligomers containing bichromophore fragments in the side chain. 14 For information storage applications, azobenzene-containing peptide oligomers, 15 tolyle-based azobenzene oligomers, 16 molecular glasses bearing glassy azochromophores, [17][18][19] and other low-molecularweight azobenzene materials 20,21 have been widely used for holographic data storage based on their photoinduced birefringence and surface-relief-grating formation. However, these are strongly dependent on sophisticated types of equipment and strict operating procedures, and demonstrate poor rewritability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%