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Diffusive photopolymers were first developed by Bruce Booth at for holography. We use a two-polymer approach introduced by Lisa Dhar and colleagues at . These materials contain two monomers, in which the first monomer is thermally or optically gelled, providing a physical scaffold to support encapsulated elements or photo-patterned index structures. Linear (one photon) absorption of incident light polymerizes the second monomer, locally depleting it in the exposed region. This causes diffusional mass transport of unreacted monomer into the exposed region, resulting in an increased material density and index of refraction. A post-exposure optical flood cure bleaches remaining initiator and cross-links all remaining monomer, yielding stable, permanent index structures. The final state of the polymer can be compliant to accommodate thermal expansion or glassy for greater robustness. Deep, 3D index patterns are possible because no wet processing is required - the index structures self-develop after optical exposure. 

The team

Learn more

• M. D. Alim, D. J. Glugla, S. Mavila, C. Wang, P. D. Nystrom, A. C. Sullivan, R. R. McLeod, C. N. Bowman, “,” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 10, pp. 1217-1224, 2018
• D. J. Glugla, M. B. Chosy, M. D. Alim, K. K. Childress, A. C. Sullivan, R. R. McLeod, “,” Optics Letters 43, pp. 1866-1869, 2018
• H. Peng, C. Wang, W. Xi, B. A Kowalski, T. Gong, X. Xie, W. Wang, D. P. Nair, R. R. McLeod, C. N. Bowman,  Chemistry of Materials 26, pp. 6819–6826, 2014.
• Benjamin A. Kowalski, Adam C. Urness, Martha-Elizabeth Baylor, Michael C. Cole, William L. Wilson, Robert R. McLeod, ,” Optics Materials Express 4, pp. 1668-1682, 2014.
• Ben Kowalski, Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering, , University of Colorado, 2014.

This work has been generously funded by