Synthesis and characterization of epoxy polymers containing azobenzene groups that exhibit optical birefringence

Synthesis and photoresponsive behavior of the high-Tg azobenzene polymers via RAFT polymerization

“…Azobenzene functionalized polymers have received much attention because of their potential uses in various optical applications, including optical data storage [1,2], liquid crystal displays [3][4][5][6], optical switching [7,8] and holographic surface-relief-gratings (SRGs) [9,10] among others. Upon irradiation with polarized light, these photoresponsive azobenzene molecules undergo unique optical trans-cis-trans isomerization cycles and possibly light-induced large-scale shape and dipole moment movement of the rigid azobenzene chromophore [11][12][13], which results in reversible surface modulation.…”

Synthesis and characterization of photoactive poly(arylene ether sulfone)s containing azobenzene moieties in their main chains

“…Polymers bearing azobenzene moieties (azo-polymers) are fascinating materials and have attracted considerable attention in recent years because of their unique reversible photo-isomerization and photoinduced anisotropy properties [3][4][5][6][7][8]. The photoinduced isomerization and anisotropy can cause significant bulk, surface property variation and polarity of the polymers, such as photoinduced phase transition, photoinduced surface relief gratings (SRGs) and photoinduced birefringence [9][10][11][12][13][14][15], which show potential applications in fields such as optical data storage, optical switching and nonlinear optical materials [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. In order to increase the optical stability for long-term applications, many efforts have been made to design and synthesize new high-T g aromatic azo-polymers, such as polyacrylate containing fully aromatic azo side chains and azo-polyimides.…”

Fabrication and Characterization of Light-responsive Multilayer Films of Chitosan and Azopolymer

“…Birefringence was induced in PEM films under ambient conditions using a linearly polarized argon laser operating at 488 nm (pump beam) with a polarization angle of 45º with respect to the polarization direction of a low power He-Ne laser operating at 632.8 nm (probe beam), as described elsewhere [20]. The power of the pump beam used in the experiments was varied between 6 and 20 mW on a spot of 0.4 mm 2 and the change in the transmission of the probe beam, which passed through the sample between two crossed polarizers, was measured with a photodiode.…”