Claims
- 1. An optical article comprising:
a three-dimensional crosslinked polymer matrix; and one or more photoactive monomers, wherein at least one photoactive monomer comprises a moiety, other than the monomer functional group, that is substantially absent from the polymer matrix, and wherein the matrix polymer and polymers resulting from polymerization of the one or more photoactive monomers are compatible.
- 2. The optical article of claim 1, wherein the polymer matrix is formed, in the presence of the one or more photoactive monomers, by a polymerization reaction independent from a reaction by which the one or more photoactive monomers are polymerized.
- 3. The optical article of claim 1, wherein the polymer matrix is formed by mercaptan-epoxy step polymerization.
- 4. The optical article of claim 3, wherein the polymer matrix comprises a polyether backbone.
- 5. The optical article of claim 4, wherein the one or more photoactive monomers are vinyl aromatic compounds.
- 6. The optical article of claim 5, wherein the one or more photoactive monomers are selected from styrene, bromostyrene, divinyl benzene, 4-methylthio-1-vinylnaphthalene, and 1-(3-(naphth-1-ylthio)propylthio)-4-vinylnaphthalene.
- 7. The optical article of claim 1, further comprising a photoinitiator.
- 8. The optical article of claim 2, wherein the matrix is formed by a polymerization reaction selected from cationic epoxy polymerization, cationic vinyl ether polymerization, cationic alkenyl ether polymerization, cationic allene ether polymerization, cationic ketene acetal polymerization, epoxy-amine step polymerization, epoxy-mercaptan step polymerization, unsaturated ester-amine step polymerization, unsaturated ester-mercaptan step polymerization, vinyl-silicon hydride step polymerization, isocyanate-hydroxyl step polymerization, and isocyanate-amine step polymerization.
- 9. The optical article of claim 1, wherein the one or more photoactive monomers are selected from acrylates, methacrylates, acrylamides, methacrylamides, styrene, substituted styrenes, vinyl naphthalene, substituted vinyl naphthalenes, vinyl ether mixed with maleate, thiol mixed with olefin, vinyl ethers, alkenyl ethers, allene ethers, ketene acetals, and epoxies.
- 10. The optical article of claim 9, wherein at least one photoactive monomer comprises more than one index-contrasting moiety.
- 11. The optical article of claim 1, wherein the article is a holographic recording medium.
- 12. The holographic recording medium of claim 11, wherein a photorecording material comprising the matrix and one or more photoactive monomers has a thickness greater than 200 μm.
- 13. The holographic recording medium of claim 12, wherein the thickness is greater than 500 μm.
- 14. The optical article of claim 1, wherein the article is an optical waveguide.
- 15. The holographic recording medium of claim 12, wherein the medium exhibits a Δn of 3×10−3 or higher.
- 16. The holographic recording medium of claim 15, wherein the medium undergoes a thickness change of less than 0.3% upon polymerization of the one or more photoactive monomers.
- 17. The optical article of claim 1, wherein 1 to 20% of the one or more photoactive monomers are grafted to the polymer matrix.
- 18. A process for fabricating an optical article, comprising the steps of:
mixing a matrix precursor and a photoactive monomer; and curing the matrix precursor to form a polymer matrix, wherein the matrix precursor is polymerized by a reaction independent from a reaction by which the photoactive monomer is capable of being polymerized, and wherein the matrix polymer and a polymer resulting from polymerization of the photoactive monomer are compatible.
- 19. The process of claim 18, wherein the polymer matrix is formed by mercaptan-epoxy step polymerization.
- 20. The process of claim 19, wherein the polymer matrix comprises a polyether backbone.
- 21. The process of claim 20, wherein the photoactive monomer is selected from vinyl aromatic compounds.
- 22. The process of claim 21, wherein the photoactive monomer is at least one of styrene, bromostyrene, divinyl benzene, 4-methylthio-1-vinylnaphthalene, and 1-(3-naphth-1-ylthio)propylthio)-4-vinylnaphthalene.
- 23. The process of claim 18, wherein a photoinitiator is mixed with the matrix precursor and photoactive monomer.
- 24. The process of claim 18, further comprising the steps of:
disposing the matrix precursor/photoactive monomer mixture between two plates prior to curing; monitoring the parallelism of the plates and matrix precursor/photoactive monomer mixture during the curing step; adjusting the relation of the plates, as needed, during the curing step to improve optical properties of the article.
- 25. The process of claim 18, wherein the photoactive monomer comprises more than one index-contrasting moiety.
- 26. A process for providing a pattern for an optical article, comprising the step of irradiating a selected region of an article that comprises a three-dimensional crosslinked polymer matrix, and one or more photoactive monomers,
wherein at least one photoactive monomer comprises a moiety, other than the monomer functional group, that is substantially absent from the polymer matrix, and wherein the matrix polymer and polymers resulting from polymerization of the one or more photoactive monomers are compatible.
- 27. The process of claim 26, wherein the irradiation induces polymerization of the one or more photoactive monomers by a reaction independent from a reaction by which the matrix is polymerized.
- 28. The process of claim 26, wherein the polymer matrix is formed by mercaptan-epoxy step polymerization.
- 29. The process of claim 28, wherein the polymer matrix comprises a polyether backbone.
- 30. The process of claim 29, wherein the one or more photoactive monomers are selected from vinyl aromatic compounds.
- 31. The process of claim 30, wherein the one or more photoactive monomers are selected from styrene, bromostyrene, divinyl benzene, 4-methylthio-1-vinylnaphthalene, and 1-(3-naphth-1-ylthio)propylthio)-4-vinylnaphthalene.
- 32. The process of claim 26, wherein the optical article is a holographic recording medium.
- 33. The process of claim 32, wherein a photorecording material comprising the matrix and the photoactive monomer has a thickness greater than 200 μm.
- 34. The process of claim 33, wherein the thickness is greater than 500 μm.
- 35. The process of claim 33, wherein the medium exhibits a Δn of 3×10−3 or higher.
- 36. The process of claim 35, wherein the medium undergoes a thickness change of less than 0.3% upon polymerization of the one or more photoactive monomers.
- 37. The process of claim 26, wherein the photoactive monomer comprises at least one group selected from acrylates, methacrylates, acrylamides, methacrylamides, styrene, substituted styrenes, vinyl naphthalene, substituted vinyl naphthalenes, vinyl ether mixed with maleate, thiol mixed with olefin, vinyl ethers, alkenyl ethers, allene ethers, ketene acetals, and epoxies.
- 38. The process of claim 37, wherein the photoactive monomer comprises more than one index-contrasting moiety.
- 39. The process of claim 26, wherein the optical article is an optical waveguide.
- 40. An optical article comprising:
a three-dimensional crosslinked polymer matrix; and one or more polymers formed from one or more photoactive monomers, wherein at least one of the photoactive monomers comprised a moiety, other than the monomer functional group, that is substantially absent from the polymer matrix, and wherein the polymer matrix and the one or more polymers formed from the one or more photoactive monomers are compatible.
- 41. The optical article of claim 40, wherein the polymer matrix is formed, in the presence of the one or more photoactive monomers, by a polymerization reaction independent from a reaction by which the one or more photoactive monomers are polymerized.
- 42. The optical article of claim 40, wherein the matrix is formed by a polymerization reaction selected from cationic epoxy polymerization, cationic vinyl ether polymerization, cationic alkenyl ether polymerization, cationic allene ether polymerization, cationic ketene acetal polymerization, epoxy-amine step polymerization, epoxy-mercaptan step polymerization, unsaturated ester-amine step polymerization, unsaturated ester-mercaptan step polymerization, vinyl-silicon hydride step polymerization, isocyanate-hydroxyl step polymerization, and isocyanate-amine step polymerization.
- 43. The optical article of claim 40, wherein the one or more photoactive monomers are selected from acrylates, methacrylates, acrylamides, methacrylamides, styrene, substituted styrenes, vinyl naphthalene, substituted vinyl naphthalenes, vinyl ether mixed with maleate, thiol mixed with olefin, vinyl ethers, alkenyl ethers, allene ethers, ketene acetals, and epoxies.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/046822, filed on Mar. 24, 1998.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09046822 |
Mar 1998 |
US |
Child |
10115392 |
Apr 2002 |
US |