Volume holographic polymer of photochromic diarylethene for updatable three-dimensional display

Holography is considered to be the next generation of technology to achieve true three-dimensional (3D) displays as it can reconstruct the wavefronts of light with the whole depth cues of a real 3D scene. Current updatable holographic materials lack multiplexing properties and fatigue resistance for 3D displays. We report on a new holographic material of side-chain diarylethene polymer with the thickness of 320 μm, minimum multiplexing angle of 0.17°, rapid response time of several seconds, and fatigue resistance. The updatable reconstructions of 3D scenes with write/erase cycles are realized in experiments. This thick photochromic polymer shows potential for applications such as real-time 3D displays for big data. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016, 54, 2050–2058