Self-Trapping of Optical Vortex by Using the Molecular Reorientation in Photosensitive Polymeric Materials

Abstract

Amorphous bulk composites were prepared by doping azo-dye Disperse Red 13 (DR13) in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrices. Photo-induced anisotropy of such kind of bulk polymer material was investigated experimentally by measuring the birefringence when irradiating it with linearly polarized green light. We report the first observation of self-trapping of an optical vortex based on such effect in bulk poly(methyl methacrylate) materials containing photosensitive azo-dye molecules. The dependence of the average core width of a single-charge optical vortex versus time and input power was investigated in detail.