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Updated: Jul 18, 2026
Monitoring the Effects of Illumination on the Structure of Conjugated Polymer Gels Using Neutron Scattering
Published on: December 21, 2017
Colossal light-induced refractive-index modulation for neutrons in holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystals
Martin Fally1, Irena Drevensek-Olenik, Mostafa A Ellabban
1Nonlinear Physics Group, Faculty of Physics, Universität Wien, Boltzmanngasse 5, Wien, Austria. Martin.Fally@univie.ac.at
Abstract:
We report strong diffraction of cold neutrons from an only 30 micro m thick holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (H-PDLC) transmission grating. The light-induced refractive-index modulation for neutrons is about 10(-6), i.e., nearly 2 orders of magnitude larger than in the best photo-neutron-refractive materials probed up to now. This makes H-PDLCs a promising candidate for fabricating neutron-optical devices.
