Polymer photochemistry

The research group Polymer Photochemistry is an interdisciplinary team of chemists and physicists which has been working at the Fraunhofer IAP since 2001 on the Science Center Golm which is one of the most modern science sites in the Berlin-Brandenburg region.

The core competences of the group Polymer Photochemistry are focused particulary on the following fields:

• Development of optical and photosensitive functional materials (polymers, supramolecular systems, composit functional materials)
• Polymer photochemistry (photochemistry with polarised light, light-induced orientation of polymers, photoalignment, photopolymerisation, photocrosslinking)
• Development of holographic materials, procedures and elements (surface relief gratings, volume gratings, switchable gratings)
• Light-induced fabrication of optical functional elements (such as optical filter, retarder, polariser, diffuser, optical grating, optical storage element, aligning layer, security feature)
• Optical systems based on self-assembling processes (colloidal crystals, photonic crystals, LC-complexes, combination of light-induced processes and self-assembly)
• Characterisation of optical and photosensitive materials, characterisation of optical functional elements (methods such as spectroscopy, ellipsometry, AFM, polarisation microscopy, microscope spectrometry)