Sugar (sucrose) holograms

Computer holograms made with sugar crystals are reported. This material is well known as a good sweetener; the sugar from sugar cane of sugar beet (sucrose). These sweetener can be applied as honey "water and diluted sugar" easily on any substrate such as plastics or glasses without critical conditions for developed process. This step corresponds only to the cured sucrose as a photopolymer process. The maximum absorption spectra is localized at UV region lambda = 240 nm. We record with lithographic techniques some gratings, showing a good diffraction efficiency around 45%. This material has good resolution to make diffraction gratings. These properties are attractive because they open the possibility to make phase holograms on candies: Mainly the phase modulation is by refraction index. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.