Holographic Bragg gratings in a photoresponsive cross-linked polymer-liquid-crystal composite

Holographic gratings were in a composite material that comprised a cross-linked polymer with azobenzene side chains and a nematic liquid crystal. Holographic recording was based on the photoinduced alignment of the nematic liquid crystal inside a cell as a result of amplification of the photoreorientation of azobenzene residues. The diffraction efficiency depends on cell thickness and reading angle of the gratings, so this composite material exhibits volume holographic properties with Bragg diffraction.