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Optical Patterning of Three-Dimensional Spatio-Tensorial Micro-Structures in Polymers
One challenging requirement for the design of devices for photonic applications is to achieve complete manipulation of molecular order. The great latitude and flexibility of optical methods offers interesting prospects for material engineering using light-matter interactions. Efficient spatial modulation of polymer macroscopic properties is usually achieved using holographic recording of an interference pattern between intense light-waves. For second-order optical nonlinear processes, a full control of the molecular orientation is mandatory. However, patterning with polarized monochromatic beams results only in molecular alignment. We report on a new, purely optical technique based on a non-classical holographic process with coherent mixing of dual-frequency fields. It enables efficient and complete three-dimensional spatio-tensorial control of polymer micro-structures.
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