Laser induced photoswitching of azobenzene incorporated in PDMSfilms

摘要

Polymers incorporating photochromic molecules are promising materials for flexible optical switches and optical data storage devices. A study on reversible photoswitching of azobenzene incorporated polydimethylsiloxane is carried out using transmittance and UV-VIS absorption measurements. The influence of light intensity on the photoswitching behavior is also investigated. The transmittance measurements are correlated with the change in the intensity of the corresponding bands in the UV-VIS absorption spectra. It is shown that the photoswitching occurs reversibly and that the switching time scale decreases with increase in intensity.