Simple fabrication of diffraction gratings by two-beam interference method in highly photosensitive hybrid sol-gel films

Sol-gel hybrid materials containing a large quantity of photoactive molecules exhibited large changes in both refractive index and volume by UV exposure. The materials were used for the fabrication of diffraction gratings using the two-beam interference method. With this technique, we could simply fabricate the diffraction gratings and easily control the grating periods. The diffraction effects and efficiencies of gratings rely heavily on the UV doses and the fabricated diffraction gratings showed a good diffraction performance. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.