PHOTOPOLYMERS IN OPTICS

Photopolymers are increasingly used in the field of optics. This paper reviews four applications of these materials that show great promise : self-processing systems recording index or thickness modualtion, gra ded-index optical elements and submicrometer thin films. In these vari ous applications, the space control of the photochemically induces pol ymerization of monomer formulations is coupled with mass transport by diffusion and eventually surface bending due to local gradients of sur face free energy.