Influence of a bleaching post-exposure treatment in the performance of H-PDLC devices with high electric conductivity

Abstract

Holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystals (H-PDLC) are made by holographic recording in a photo-polymerization induced phase separation process in which the liquid crystal molecules diffuse to dark zones in the diffraction grating. The devices with H-PDLC materials develop a dynamic behavior that may be modified by means of an electric field. We study a photopolymer formulation with high diffraction efficiency but with the problem of high electric conductivity. We use a bleaching post-exposure treatment to obtain devices with a better electro-optical performance.