Effect of monomer functionality on performance of holographically-formed polymer dispersed liquid crystals

Reflection gratings are formed holographically in polymer dispersed materia l. The effect of polymer functionality on the reflective display performanc e characteristics of these materials is investigated. Commercial urethane r esins of functionality 2, 3, and 6 are used as base materials to create int eger and half-integer effective functionalities from 2 to 6. Our results re veal an optimum reflectance at an effective functionality of 4.5.