Characterization of silica-nanoparticle-dispersed photopolymer films that include poly(methyl methacrylate) as host binder material

Transmission volume holograms recorded in methacrylate photopolymer films doped with silica nanoparticles and transparent plastics are studied. It is found that poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), which is a well-known host material for plastic dye lasers, works as an efficient host binder material and that a refractive index modulation of 0.005 is possible with PMMA of 50 vol %. It is also shown that silica nanoparticles at a concentration as high as 30 vol % can be uniformly dispersed in a monomer-PMMA mixture to form a volume holographic grating with a refractive index modulation of 0.005.