Fabrication of GRIN-materials by photopolymerization of diffusion-controlled organic-inorganic nanocomposite materials

New photopolymers have contributed siginficantly to the recent growth of holographic and lithographic applications. Photopolymerizable organic-inorganic hybrid materials, based on methacrylate functionalized silane and zirconia particles as holographic recording material, are presented. Thick films of this composite system were prepared and volume diffractive gratings were fabricated by a two laser beam interference technique. The formation of the gratings is based on the diffusion of high refrractive index components (ZRO2-nanoparticles) to areas with high irradiation intensity with subsequent immobilization by full irradiation of the film. The influence of the zirconia particles as the main component for obtaining highly efficient gratings is presented and the correlation between particle concentration and refractive index profile is shown