Periodic surface photoreliefs in glassy and hyperelastic polymers

The formation and degradation of periodic photoreliefs on the surface of polymer layers having significantly different glass-transition temperatures are investigated for various process activation temperatures. It is established that the main factor limiting the resolution of periodic relaxation photoreliefs at the surface of glassy polymer layers containing dimerizing anthracene derivatives is the presence of shear stresses. Their action is suppressed by the thermal decomposition of dimers, a process which gives rise to inverted reliefs of higher spatial frequencies. It is shown that the resolution can be enhanced by more than an order of magnitude by using a polymer matrix in the hyperelastic state. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 79–83 (August 1999)