Optimization of a thick polyvinyl alcohol-acrylamide photopolymer for data storage using a combination of angular and...

The capability of polyvinyl alcohol-acrylamide photopolymer materials to obtain angularly multiplexed holographic gratings has been demonstrated [Appl. Phys. B 76, 851 (2003)]. A combination of two multiplexing methods--peristrophic and angular multiplexing--is used to record 60 holograms. An exposure schedule method is used to optimize the capability of the photopolymerizable holographic material and obtain holograms with a higher, more uniform diffraction efficiency. In addition, because of this exposure schedule method, the entire dynamic range (M#) of the material will be exploited, obtaining values of approximately M# approximately 9 in layers approximately 800 microm thick.