Shrinkage- and refractive-index shift-corrected volume holograms for optical interconnects

The Bragg mismatching condition for volume holograms occurs because of the changes in the thickness and the refractive index of holographic recording materials during the recording and reconstruction procedures. We propose an improved compensation method to physically correct these effects in the fabrications of volume holograms for optical interconnects. In order to show the validity of this method, Slavich photographic plate VRP-M is used to fabricate optical interconnects. The correction of the Bragg diffraction angle shift of about 2.10degrees, which is induced by 6.14% film shrinkage and 0.06 refractive index shift, is successfully demonstrated with the surface-normal configuration. A shrinkage- and refractive-index shift-corrected volume hologram with 23% diffraction efficiency is experimentally confirmed. The methodology proposed is applicable to other phase media when the associated film shrinkage and refractive-index shift data are experimentally determined. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.