Dark diffusional enhancement of holographic multiplexed gratings in phenanthrenequinone doped poly(methyl methacrylate) photopolymer

In this paper, we experimentally investigate the dark diffusional enhancement of the optimized multiplexed grating in the phenanthrenequinone doped poly (methyl methacrylate) (PQ-PMMA) photopolymer. The possibility of improving the holographic characteristics of the material through the dark enhancement is demonstrated. The optimal preillumination exposure and the optimal time interval between exposures are extracted to obtain the optimized diffraction efficiency, and their values are 3.4×10³ mJ/cm ² and 2 min, respectively. The dark enhancement of the multiplexed grating is presented as an effective method to improve the response region and the dynamic range and to prevent saturation of the material. The dependence of the phenanthrenequinone concentration on the increment of the refractive index modulation is quantitatively studied, which provides a significant basis for improving the homogeneity in the multiplexed gratings using a quantitative strategy. Finally, a simple experimental procedure using the dark enhancement is introduced to improve the homogeneity of the diffraction efficiency and to avoid the complex schedule exposure.