Holographic volume absorption grating in glass-like polymer recording material

We investigated the contribution of the absorption and phase gratings to the total diffraction efficiency of volume holographic gratings written in glass-like polymer recording materials based on poly(methyl methacrylate) and its thermostable derivative (copolymer with acrylic acid) with distributed phenanthrenequinone. The typical maximal diffraction efficiency was 0.5%-2.0% for the absorption grating and 22-32% for the phase grating. The modulation of the absorption coefficient varied between 10 cm(-1) and 100 cm(-1) and the modulation of the refractive index was about 10(-4)-10(-3).