Study of a holographic grating based on dye-doped polymer-ball-type polymer-dispersed liquid crystal films

This study investigates the characteristics of the holographic grating formed in polymer-ball-type polymer-dispersed-liquid crystal (PBT-PDLC) films, doped with a diazo dye (G206). A dye-doped PBT-PDLC sample was fabricated, and used to write a holographic grating. Experimental results indicated that the grating had memory of the polarization of the writing beams. This polarization memory effect was inerasable if the sample was heated to the isotropic phase, and then cooled down to room temperature. Based on these observations, we believe that the memory of the grating effect does not relate to the intrinsic memory in the transmission versus applied voltage curve of PBT-PDLC films, which is thermally erasable. Rather, the effect is due to a feature of the grating, resulting from the reorientation of the liquid crystals through their interaction with the photo-induced adsorption of the doped dyes on the surface of the polymer balls.