A New Class of Materials for Holography in the Infrared

A new class of holographic materials is described. These materials undergo four-level two-photon photochemistry. The holograms recorded in these materials are self-developing and are not erased during reading. Furthermore, the recording process may be gated off and on by using an auxiliary incoherent light source. As a specific example of such a system, holograms formed using samples of an α-diketone dissolved in poly(cyanoacrylate) are described. Gated holograms have been recorded in this material at 752 and 1064 nm.