Azobenzene-functionalized polymers have been extensively explored for their potential use in photonics, optoelectronics, and optical signal processing [1]. All of these applications are based on the photoisomerization of the azobenzene groups attached to the polymer chains and photoinduced anisotropy upon irradiation with polarized laser light. This process leads also to surface relief grating (SRG) formation of depth ranging from a few nanometers up to the micrometer scale [2]. Thus the SRG formation can be used to fabrication of different periodic nanostructures. The formation process was found to be dependent on both the experimental conditions such as light intensity, its polarization and incidence angle and polymer structure i.e. azobenzene unit substitution [3, 4]. The aim of the present work is to study the surface relief grating formation ability in some azobenzene-functionalized polyimides. A series of well-defined soluble polyimides containing azobenzene group have been synthesised and prepared in the form of thin films. Two-wave mixing technique with Ar⁺ laser line (l = 514.5 nm) has been employed to inscribe the gratings in these polymers for two s-s and s-p polarisation configurations of the writing beams. Atomic Force Microscopy imaging has been used to monitor the obtained structures.

[1] S. Yang, K. Yang, L. Niu, R. Nagarajan, S. Bian, A.K. Jain, J. Kumar, Adv. Mater. 2004, 16, 693.

[2] F. Lagugne-Labarthet, J.L. Bruneel, V. Rodriguez, C. Courisseau, J. Phys. Chem. B 2004, 108, 1267.

[3] M. Helgert, L. Wenke, S. Hvilsted, P.S. Ramanujam, Appl. Phys. B 2001, 72, 429.

[4] W. Liu, S.-H. Lee, S. Yang, S. Bian, L. Li, L.A. Samuelson, J. Kumar, S.K. Tripathy. J. Macromol. Sci. Pure. Appl. Chem. A 2001, 38, 1355.

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1. Optical Studies of Aromatic Polyazomethine Thin Films