Two-wavelength exposure enhancement in holographic data storage of spirooxazine-doped polymers

Spirooxazine could be used as optical storage medium due to the excellent photochromic characteristic. In this paper, dynamics of holographic grating recording in spirooxazine-doped PMMA polymers was investigated using two coherent green beams (532 nm) and auxiliary blue-violet beam (405 nm) of various powers. The diffraction efficiency and growth rate of holographic gratings as well as the production rate of H-aggregation of merocyanine were strongly dependent on the auxiliary light power. In terms of these effects, an Aggregation Model was proposed, which was found to be in good agreement with the measurements. The corresponding dynamic parameters were obtained by fitting the experimental results, indicating that both the thermal rate constant and the aggregating rate constant increase exponentially versus the auxiliary light power. With the help of this model, the maximum brightness of reconstruction images was calculated and proved experimentally at the blue-violet light power of 57 mW. The results present a new approach to enhance the efficiency in spirooxazine-based films for holographic storage.