Formation of holographic fringes on photochromic Ag/TiO2 nanocomposite films

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles deposited on ${\text{TiO}}_2$ nanoporous films exhibited unique photochromic property under the irradiation of visible light. Here we investigated the application of photochromic $\text{Ag}/{\text{TiO}}_2$ nanocomposite film in holographic data storage. Stable holographic fringes were formed on the $\text{Ag}/{\text{TiO}}_2$ film using two coherent green lasers as writing beams, and these fringes could be erased with ultraviolet irradiation. These observations are consistent with the photochromism of $\text{Ag}/{\text{TiO}}_2$ nanocomposite film and can be well explained by the visible light-stimulated dissolution and ultraviolet light-stimulated regeneration of silver nanoparticles in ${\text{TiO}}_2$ matrix.