Mechanisms of the Photomechanical Response in Thin-Film Dye-Doped Glassy Polymers.

This work aims to determine the mechanism of the photomechanical response of poly(Methyl methacrylate) polymer doped with the photo-isomerizable dye Disperse Red 1 using the non-isomerizable dye Disperse Orange 11 as a control to isolate photoisomerization. Samples are free-standing thin films with thickness that is small compared with the optical skin depth to assure uniform illumination and photomechanical response throughout their volume, which differentiates these studies from most others. Polarization-dependent measurements of the photomechanical stress response are used to deconvolute the contributions of angular hole burning, molecular reorientation and photothermal heating.

Spectroscopic studies of the mechanism of reversible photodegradation of 1-substituted aminoanthraquinone-doped polymers.

The mechanism of reversible photodegradation of 1-substituted aminoanthraquinones doped into poly(methyl methacrylate) and polystyrene is investigated. Time-dependent density functional theory is employed to predict the transition energies and corresponding oscillator strengths of the proposed reversibly and irreversibly damaged dye species. Ultraviolet-visible and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy are used to characterize which species are present.