Thermal polarization properties of thick anisotropic diffraction holograms recorded in polymer-dispersed liquid crystals

The diffraction and polarization properties of thick anisotropic holographic gratings recorded in polymer-dispersed liquid crystals are studied experimentally and theoretically. Such gratings are anisotropic and sensitive to temperature variations and also exhibit a strong dependence of the diffraction properties on the incident radiation polarization because of the presence of liquid-crystal molecules. The dependences of the diffraction efficiency and diffracted beam polarization orientation on the diffraction grating temperature and incident beam linear polarization are obtained for the case of Bragg incidence. The same dependences are derived using the known experimental temperature curves of the liquid crystal permittivity. The experimental data are in agreement with the theoretical calculations. The feasibility of controlling the diffraction characteristics of the grating in a wide temperature interval is demonstrated.