R&D: Highly Sensitive Photopolymer for Holographic Storage Containing Methacryl Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane

Applied Materials and Interfaces has published an article written by Po Hu, College of Photonic and Electronic Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China, and Henan Provincial Key Laboratory of intelligent lighting, Huanghuai University, Zhumadian 463000, China, Jinhong Li, Junchao Jin, Xiao Lin, College of Photonic and Electronic Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China, and Xiaodi Tan, Information Photonics Research Center, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Science and for Medicine of Ministry of Education, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Photonics Technology, Fujian Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Photoelectric Sensing Application, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China.

Abstract: “Herein, via introducing eight methacryl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (Ma-POSS), we dramatically enhance the holographic performance of phenanthraquinone-doped poly(methyl methacrylate) (PQ/PMMA) photopolymer with excellent characteristics of high sensitivity, high diffraction efficiency, and neglectable volume shrinkage for holographic data storage, the photosensitivity, diffraction efficiency, and volume shrinkage reaching 1.47 cm/J, ∼75%, and ∼0.09%, respectively. Ma-POSS here dramatically enhances the photosensitivity ∼5.5 times, diffraction efficiency more than 50%, and suppressed the volume shrinkage over 4 times. Further analysis reveals that Ma-POSS obviously increased the molecular weight by grafting PMMA to be a star-shaped macromolecule. And the residual C═C of POSS–PMMA dramatically increased the photosensitivity. Moreover, the star-shaped POSS–PMMA acting as a plasticizer dramatically enhances the mechanical properties and so reduces the photoinduced volume shrinkage of PQ/PMMA. Finally, by the use of the POSS–PMMA/PQ in a collinear holography system, it appeared to be promising for a fast but low bit error rate in holographic information storage. The current study thence has not only successfully synthesized photopolymer materials with potential for highly sensitive holographic storage applications but also investigated the microphysical mechanism of the impact of Ma-POSS on the holographic properties of PQ/PMMA photopolymer and clarified the thermal- and photoreaction processes of the POSS–PMMA/PQ photopolymer.“