Control of anisotropic diffraction in liquid-crystal composite volume gratings

Orientation-controlled anisotropic diffraction gratings are realized by interferometric exposure using composite materials of nematic liquid crystals (LCs) and LC diacrylate monomers. The anisotropic diffraction properties in volume gratings, which dominantly diffract p- or s-polarized light, are shown to be controlled by the rubbed directions of the alignment layers under the control of the photopolymerization temperature. Images of the fringe patterns observed by polarization microscopy show the effects of the alignment layers on the LC orientation during grating formation.