Improvement in the diffraction efficiency of a polymer using an ionic liquid

Abstract

In this paper, photosensitive materials for information storage devices are presented. The polymers were prepared using surface relief-grating (SRG) fabrication with a diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser of 532 nm, and the diffraction efficiency (DE) of the polymers were assessed with a low-power DPSS laser at 633 nm. However, the diffraction efficiency of the azo-functionalized epoxy-based polymer was low, even after 15 min of exposure. To improve the efficiency and reduce the time it takes for the DE measurements of the photosensitive polymer, the polymer was combined ionic liquids (ILs). Various ILs, i.e., 1-methylimidazolium chloride ([Mim]Cl) from the imidazolium family of ILs and diethylammonium dihydrogen phosphate (DEAP), triethylammonium 4-aminotoluene-3-sulfonic acid (TASA) and tributylmethylammonium methyl sulphate (TBMS) from the ammonium family of ILs, were investigated. For the first time, it was observed that DE dramatically increased the DEAP–polymer mixture in 4 min compared to the polymer (alone) and other polymer–IL mixtures. Therefore, DEAP IL could help improve the efficiency of DE measurements in a shorter time.

Keywords

• photosensitive materials
• diode-pumped solid-state
• diffraction efficiency
• ionic liquids
• imidazolium IL
• ammonium IL