Characterization of polyvinyl alcohol/acrylamide holographic memories with a first-harmonic diffusion model

Several theoretical models have been proposed to predict the behavior of photopolymers as holographic recording materials. Basically these models have been applied to study thin layers (around 100 mu m thick). The increasing importance of holographic memories recorded in photopolymers (thickness of > 500 mu m) makes it necessary to extend the ideas proposed by these models to study thick photopolymer layers. We calculate the temporal evolution of the diffraction efficiencies for thick layers using a first-harmonic diffusion model, and the results obtained are compared with the corresponding values for thin layers. Furthermore, the values of the average diffusivity of the polymer chains after the grating is formed are also obtained. In general, we find that the monomer and polymer diffusivity increases when higher values of thickness are used. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.