Photoinduced Surface Relief Grating Formation on a (100) Surface of a Single Crystal of 4-(Dimethylamino)azobenzene

Surface relief grating (SRG) can be fabricated on a (100) surface of a single crystal of 4-(dimethylamino)azobenzene by irradiation with coherent laser beams. The SRG formation depended upon both orientation of the crystal and polarization direction of the writing beams. It was suggested that the photoinduced SRG formation took place by mass transport from the bright region toward the dark region near the surface of the crystal. In addition, the molecules existing in the convex region of the resulting SRG were found to be oriented according to the underlying crystal.