Review of recent advances in photosensitive polymer materials and requirements for transmission diffractive optical elements for LED light sources
M.E. Murray, Izabela Naydenova, Suzanne Martin
Abstract
Scattered light from outdoor LED sources is a major contributor to blue-spectrum light pollution which negatively impacts ecology and public health. Volume holographic diffractive optical elements (DOEs), made with low-cost photosensitive polymers, are proposed as a technological solution that can minimise this scattering. This review examines requirements needed for efficient operation of transmission-format DOEs with LEDs and implications for material choices. For such DOEs to have a single diffraction order and high efficiency there is a corresponding range of acceptable Δ n . A survey of materials also found that many current materials satisfy the Δ n requirements for single-element DOEs. It is proposed that future efforts focus on robustness, environmental sustainability, scalability, multiplexing, optical quality, and reduced cost.