Study of the Dynamics of Photoinduced Orientation of Azo Polymers By Infrared Spectroscopy

Abstract

Infrared spectroscopy coupled with the polarization modulation technique has been used to characterize the molecular orientation in azo polymers irradiated by polarized light. The results obtained with an amorphous azo polymer containing Disperse Red-1 side-chains reveal that this technique is highly effective to determine quantitatively the time dependence of the degree of orientation of several chemical groups during the orientation (laser on) and relaxation (laser off) processes.