In this paper, we propose and explain the mechanism of dynamic molecular motions and isotropic domain formation during the diffraction grating recording in low molecular liquid-crystalline azobenzene derivatives. The photochromic molecules of 4-heptyl-4'-methoxyazobenzene, showing nematic liquid-crystalline properties close to the room temperature (from T = 34 °C), are used. A one-dimensional model of the grating formation is formulated based on in vivo polarized microscope observations. Formation and growth of the isotropic domains induced by the sinusoidally modulated Gaussian light intensity distribution is proposed as the mechanism and is used for experimental data fitting. The influence of the recording light intensity, grating period, and temperature on the domain growth rate factor is checked.
© 2012 American Chemical Society