Polarization Holographic Recording in Amorphous Polymer with Photoinduced Linear and Circular Birefringence

Polarization grating recording in an amorphous and nonchiral azo copolymer has been investigated. The reported study shows that the amorphous polymeric film undergoes a light-guided inhomogeneous supramolecular modification as a consequence of the illumination with proper polarized light patterns, acquiring new functionalities. Both linear and circular, spatially modulated, photoinduced birefringences occur, attaining their peak values in the linearly and circularly polarized regions of the light pattern, respectively. The photoinduced anisotropic structures strongly affect the polarization state of the light propagating through them, and the characterization of their optical diffraction enables measurement of the amplitude of the linear and circular birefringences. The recorded gratings show long-time stability and full reconfigurability functional to the multiple holographic recording.