Ag-doped inorganic–organic hybrid films for rewritable hologram memory application

This review paper reports our recent progress in the synthesis of Ag-doped inorganic–organic hybrid films through the sol–gel method for rewritable hologram memory application. The Ag-doped hybrid films showed absorbance change upon ultraviolet (UV) radiation and subsequent heat treatment. The origin of the absorbance change was attributed to the deposition of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) by UV radiation and the Ag dissociation by heat treatment. Bromination of Ag resulted in the sensitization of the films to blue laser irradiation which would be used for a hologram recording device. Chlorination of Ag enabled the films to have rewritability of hologram as well as sensitivity to blue laser irradiation. The size and dispersion state of Ag NPs in the films were suitable for hologram recording media. The diffraction efficiency of >1 % was obtained, which is sufficient to read the recorded hologram from the films.