Proceedings of Spie: Expanding Possibilities How To Apply Bayfol HX (R) Film Into Recording Stacks and Optical Parts

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Expanding possibilities how to apply

Bayfol HX(R) film into recording
stacks and optical parts
Friedrich-Karl Bruder, Johannes Frank, Sven Hansen,

Roland Künzel, Christel Manecke, et al.
Friedrich-Karl Bruder, Johannes Frank, Sven Hansen, Roland Künzel, Christel

Manecke, Richard Meisenheimer, Jack Mills, Lena Pitzer, Thomas Rölle, Brita
Wewer, "Expanding possibilities how to apply Bayfol HX(R) film into recording
stacks and optical parts," Proc. SPIE 11306, Practical Holography XXXIV:
Displays, Materials, and Applications, 113060C (21 February 2020); doi:
10.1117/12.2546220
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2020, San Francisco, California, United States
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Expanding Possibilities how to Apply Bayfol HX® Film into Recording
Stacks and Optical Parts
Friedrich-Karl Bruder*,a, Johannes Franka, Sven Hansena, Roland Künzela, Christel Maneckea, Richard Meisenheimera,
Jack Millsb, Lena Pitzera, Thomas Röllea, Brita Wewera
a
Covestro Deutschland AG, Chempark Leverkusen, D-51365 Leverkusen, Germany
b
Covestro LLC, 1 Covestro Circle, Pittsburgh, PA 15205, USA;
ABSTRACT
See-through optical components are being intensively studied in applications such as Head-up-displays (HUD) and
Head-mounted-displays (HMD). In particular, volume holographic optical elements (vHOE) have received a lot of
attention due to their unique optical (angular and spectral selectivity) and mechanical (lightweight and thin)
characteristics which make them perfectly suitable for use in integrated optical components like spectacle lenses and car
windshields. Bayfol® HX photopolymer films prove themselves as easy to process recording materials for vHOEs. The
Bayfol® HX instantly developing holographic photopolymer film provides full color capability and adjustable diffraction
efficiency as well as an unprecedented optical clarity when compared to classical volume holographic recording
materials like silver halide emulsions (AgX) or dichromated gelatin (DCG). Besides the recording step, no pre- or post-
processing is necessary and easy mass production of vHOEs in a completely dry roll to roll process is possible.
The layout of a typical Bayfol® HX film consists of a light-sensitive photopolymer layer coated onto a transparent
substrate and protected on the other side by a cover film. The substrate is particularly beneficial, not only for easy
handling of the film during holographic recording, but also for further mechanical processing steps which are required to
embed the film into a finished optical component. However for certain applications it is desirable to remove the substrate
before or after recording. This will allow the user to make full use of the high flexibility of the photopolymer layer, for
example if it comes to curved surfaces that have to be covered. Also more complex stack geometries can be realized in
which the photopolymer layer could be embedded in optically well designed cavities or mechanically demanding setups.
To facilitate this, we developed Bayfol® HX film grades in which the substrate has a lower adhesion to the photopolymer
layer compared to the protective cover film. Therefor the substrate can be removed first in contrast to existing Bayfol®
HX film grades which only allow to remove the protective cover film. On the other hand the adhesion of the protective
cover film can also be well controlled, so that it can be specifically selected according to the needs of the surface to
which the photopolymer layer has to be transferred to. In this paper we demonstrate versatile application processes
making use of these transfer grades of Bayfol® HX films with respect to adhesion design, integration in complex stacks
and application on curved surfaces.
Keywords: holographic photopolymer, volume holographic optical element, head-mounted displays, head-up displays,
processing methods, transfer film.
1. INTRODUCTION
In recent years we have seen a strong increase in the developments and efforts to commercialize devices in the area of
Augmented Reality (AR) displays 1. Many players in the electronics and transportation industry consider such devices as
one of the next big development step for human machine interfaces (HMI) 2. However, until today this information
technology revolution is still in the very beginning since there are some fundamental optical problems to be overcome.
One of the main issues relates to the use of traditional refractive optics which leads to bulky systems, if the trade-off
between large field of view (FOV) and small display size has to be tackled. Diffractive optics realized as surface
holograms are able to resolve this trade-off to some extent. However the fact that surface holograms do not have a strong
selectivity and are realized as surface structures makes them visible to ambient light. Volume holographic optical
elements (vHOEs) show strong selectivity and multiple optical functions can be recorded in the same volume called
multiplexing. Due to the strong selectivity of vHOEs these multiple optical functions can be addressed separately with
virtually no X-talk in contrast to surface holograms. Combined with the high transparency in the Off-Bragg condition
*friedrich-karl.bruder@covestro.com; phone +49 214 6009 6205
Practical Holography XXXIV: Displays, Materials, and Applications, edited by

Hans I. Bjelkhagen, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 11306, 113060C · © 2020 SPIE
CCC code: 0277-786X/20/$21 · doi: 10.1117/12.2546220
Proc. of SPIE Vol. 11306 113060C-1

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vHOEs are an enabler technology to new key components like optical combiners for augmented reality glasses 3, large
head-up displays 4, and transparent projection screens 5. vHOEs can also be engineered to be ideal for applications where
customized filter functions are needed, e.g., for laser protection 6. Due to the inherent nature to create complex
wavefronts, vHOEs can also be used as well in the design of luminaires, e.g., for automotive lighting 7.
As outlined in 8 with Bayfol® HX film we developed a dry photopolymer technology platform especially suitable for the
manufacturing of lightweight and transparent vHOEs. Recent implementations of vHOEs recorded in Bayfol® HX film
in a plastic combiner for smart glasses and in a cylindrical transparent screen have been demonstrated by Sony 9, 20. The
film is available as a coated photo-reactive film in industrial scale. We already demonstrated that mass replication of a
so-called master vHOEs in Bayfol® HX is possible and proposed as well reported on suitable machinery 10, 11. In this
copy process Bayfol® HX film is laminated to this master vHOE. A single scanning laser line copies the phase hologram
of the master vHOE into the copy film. The copy film is moved in a step and repeat process through the replication line.
The film handling is done onto a Roll-to-Roll machine, making the process suitable to standard industrial processes. To
record a master vHOE in Bayfol® HX film without being bound to size limitations by laser power limits we described in
12
a holographic printer.
1.1. Bayfol® HX Photopolymer Films
Early holographic recording materials required cumbersome wet-chemical processing to develop the hologram after laser
exposure 14, 15. For this reason, for a long time there has been the desire to have an ideal volume holographic material that
offers easy processing, long-term stability, accuracy of grating reproduction and compatibility to standard industrial
product-integration processes.
The introduction of the first generation of holographic photopolymers to the industry in the late 1980’s marked the
beginning of a new era of volume holography 16-18. Despite their advantageous properties, these materials failed to lead to
a commercial breakthrough of holography in multiple applications. One reason for this was the fact that these materials
still required some wet or thermal post-processing after hologram exposure. Additionally, they showed rather low
sensitivity in the longer wavelength spectrum above 600 nm.
In comparison to other photopolymers, Bayfol® HX film is a light-sensitive, self-processing photopolymer film which
can be used to manufacture reflection and transmission volume-phase holograms. It can be recorded with appropriate
laser light within the spectral range of 440 nm to 680 nm. Bayfol® HX films are mass produced by a wet-coating
deposition process. They are available on industrial scale and consist of a three layer stack: a transparent film substrate,
the light-sensitive photopolymer and a protective cover film (see Figure 1). The protective cover film can be removed.
The photopolymer layer itself has a thickness d that can be chosen to adjust the necessary angular and spectral Bragg-
selectivity.
Figure 1: Schematic drawing showing the typical three layer stack of Bayfol® HX film.
1.2. Customization of Bayfol® HX Photopolymer Films
For industrial applications it is important to provide a consistent and simple to process material. A major benefit of the
Bayfol® HX recording material is that it does not require any post processing after holographic recording like chemical
treatments or thermal baking – briefly dubbed as instant recording media. For a specific application as discussed before it
is also important to simplify the recording process including the mass replication of vHOEs. Figure 2 shows the different
aspects in which these materials can be customized. On one side the photopolymer recording properties like refractive
index modulation (∆n1 of > 0.05) have been realized for specific grades and film thicknesses can be varied on a wide
range (1 µm up to 70 µm) which is important for tuning the angular and spectral bandwidth according to application
requirements. Also the sensitizer chemistry can be adjusted in terms of light sensitivity, wavelength response and
bleaching properties.

Figure 2: Aspects in customization of Bayfol® HX recording film to match towards application requirements.
Additionally the substrate type plays an important role for the recording process itself, but also for the final properties of
the vHOE as well. Moreover, the presence of a thermoplastic substrate acts as a protective layer and makes the film
attractive for use in manufacturing processes such as injection molding, thermoforming, casting, etc…, typically used to
fabricate parts for the automotive, eyewear and ID-card industry.
After a selected vHOE has been recorded and mass-replicated, a last but not less crucial step needed for this technology
to further extend its footprint in the marketplace involves the integration of the Bayfol® HX film into the final product 21.
We investigated last year 21 the use of adhesives and the film insert molding process, which can be considered when a
final product should include a vHOE made on Bayfol® HX films. The compatibility of vHOEs recorded in Bayfol® HX
film in casting technology for embedding optical elements into prescription spectacle lenses has previously been
demonstrated 13. In all these cases the vHOE was recorded at first in a flat configuration and subsequently a flat plastic /
vHOE / plastic sandwich layer stack was formed and back-molded using film inserting molding or 3D thermo-formed
before being casted into lenses 13.
The selection of a suitable substrate is decisive in all the cases described above. However for certain applications it is
desirable to remove the substrate before or – in the more rare case - after recording. This will allow the user to make full
use of the high flexibility of the photopolymer layer, for example if it comes to curved surfaces that have to be covered.
Also more complex stack geometries can be realized in which the photopolymer layer could be embedded in optically
well designed cavities or mechanically demanding setups. To facilitate this, we developed Bayfol® HX film transfer
grades in which the substrate has a lower adhesion to the photopolymer layer compared to the protective cover film.
Therefor the substrate can be removed first in contrast to existing Bayfol® HX film grades which only allow to remove
the protective cover film. On the other hand the adhesion of the protective cover film can also be well controlled, so that
it can be specifically selected according to the needs of the surface to which the photopolymer layer has to be transferred
to. In this paper we demonstrate versatile application processes making use of these transfer grades of Bayfol® HX films
with respect to adhesion design, integration in complex stacks and application on curved surfaces. Therefor the paper
will be organized as follows: We will start outlining how to measure adhesion forces of the photopolymer to the
protective cover film and the substrate either in the non-bleached or the exposed / bleached state. Based on the results we
design a transfer grade selecting a proper substrate and a proper protective cover film. Physical bonding will be
described and used to form a flat plastic / photopolymer / plastic stack that can be 3D formed using high pressure
forming. This 3D formed plastic / photopolymer / plastic stack is recorded and the performance of the recorded vHOE is
analyzed to demonstrate the potential of the process. Finally we will conclude the paper.
2. EVALUATION OF ADHESION FORCES AS PEEL FORCES

To study the adhesion forces between the different interfaces of interest, photopolymer – protective cover film and
photopolymer – substrate either in the non-bleached state (as produced in the coating line) or in the bleached / exposed
state we selected a peel force measurement at 90° peel off angle. Test tripes of respective stacks of suitable layer

sequence having 20 mm width W and 200 mm length L will be used. To measure the magnitude of the peel force F a
Zwick Z2.5 instrument is used. It is equipped with a force transducer with a range of 50 N and a resolution of 0.005 N
and the 90° jig for clamping of the test stripes (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: Instrumentation to measure the peel force. Left the Zwick Z2.5, middle and right the 90° jig.
The measured magnitude of the peel force F is normalized to the width W of the test stripe and given in N/mm.
A general description of the respective stacks with their suitable layer sequence is depicted in Figure 4. We have to note
that to achieve a high enough stiffness of the stack a 1 mm thick plastic (usually polycarbonate (PC) or polystyrene (PS)
is used) support has to be adhered to the plastic / photopolymer (non-bleached or bleached / exposed) / plastic layer stack
to measure the correct peel force.
Figure 4: Left: shows the configuration when the layer B adheres less to the photopolymer as the layer A. Right: shows the
configuration when the layer A adheres more to the photopolymer as the layer B. In this case layer B peels 1st and is
already removed. The residual free photopolymer surface is adhered to the plastic support with super glue (cyano-
acrylate) WK-20 from Wekem GmbH, Germany.
It is important to recognize that the layer sequence of the stack under test has to be adapted to the interface for which the
peel force has to be measured. In case the peel force of the layer has to be tested that peels 1st the remaining layer
adjacent to the photopolymer is adhered with a double sticky tape with high enough adhesion (for example Master-Carr,
Scotch 3M USA) to the plastic support (see Figure 4, left). It is important that the double sticky tape sticks smoothly to
both surfaces as air bubbles may cause peak outliers in the force – displacement curve. In case the peel force of the layer
has to be tested, that has the higher adhesion to the photopolymer as the one that peels 1st the residual free photopolymer
surface is adhered to the plastic support (PC) with super glue (cyano-acrylate) WK-20 from Wekem GmbH, Germany
(see Figure 4, right). This process is described a bit more in detail. One liner of a 1 mm thick Makrofol® DE1-1 film is
removed, cleaned with ethanol and dried at room temperature. The free photopolymer surface of the photopolymer is
smoothly attached to this liner-free side of the 1 mm thick Makrofol® DE1-1 film. The stack is put into a holder. The

photopolymer film is slightly lifted again to apply a line of super glue (Wekem 20) to the free photopolymer surface.
Using a spatula the super glue is pushed across the whole surface starting at the holder to reapply the photopolymer to
the 1 mm thick Makrofol® DE1-1 film. To let the super glue adhere well enough to the free photopolymer surface and
the plastic support we always allow at least one full day for drying. The 2nd liner of the Makrofol® DE 1-1 film is
removed and the stack is cut into 20 mm x 210 mm test stripes. Special care has to be taken in the case of very thin
photopolymer layers (< 2 µm) in the non-bleached state. As the super glue may be pressed easily in small spots through
the photopolymer layer and adheres to the layer to be tested with respect to its peel force to the photopolymer. If this
happens this usually results also in local very high value outliers in the force – displacement curve. The preparation of
the stack and the respective peel force measurement has to be repeated if such effects are observed.
Obviously the photopolymer layer can be in the non-bleached state or in the bleached / exposed state.
The peel-off test was done according to DIN EN 1464 using a peel-off speed of 100 mm/min. The peel-off force F is
registered along a total peel-off length of 100 mm and finally averaged over this length.
In the following we described more in detail the different cases with respect to Figure 4.
2.1. Measurement of the peel force of the protective cover film to the photopolymer layer in the non-bleached
state
Protective cover film peels 1st.
B = protective cover film, A = substrate (w/o liner, if there is one). In a dark room environment the substrate liner (if
there is a substrate liner) is removed and the Bayfol® HX film is cut into 20 mm x 200 mm stripes. A small part of the
protective cover film is peeled off the photopolymer to ease later measurements. Each stripe is adhered with a sticky tape
to the 1 mm thick support (PS ruler). The stripes are tested using a peel-off test according to DIN EN 1464 measuring
between protective film and photopolymer. Each test is repeated 3-7 times.
Substrate peels 1st.
A = protective cover film. In a dark room environment the substrate with the liner (if there is a substrate liner) is
removed from the photopolymer film. The free photopolymer surface is adhered to the 1 mm plastic support (PC) with
the help of super glue. Details of this process are described above. The resulting stack is then cut into 20 mm x 200 mm
stripes. A small part of the protective cover film is peeled off the photopolymer to ease later measurements. Each stripe
is adhered with a sticky tape to the 1 mm thick support. The stripes are tested using a peel-off test according to DIN EN
1464 measuring between protective film and photopolymer. Each test is repeated 3-7 times.
2.2. Measurement of the adhesion of the protective film to the photopolymer layer in the exposed / bleached
state
B = protective cover film, A = substrate (w/o liner, if there is one). Same procedure as described under subsection 2.1.,
however the Bayfol® HX film is either flood cured or exposed at first.
A = protective cover film. Same procedure as described under subsection 2.1., however the Bayfol® HX film is either
flood cured or exposed at first.
2.3. Measurement of the adhesion of the photopolymer film to the thermoplastic substrate in the non-
bleached state
A = substrate (w/o liner, if there is one). In a dark room environment the protective cover film is removed from the
photopolymer film. The free photopolymer surface is adhered to the 1 mm plastic support (PC) with the help of super
glue. Details of this process are described above. The resulting stack is then cut into 20 mm x 200 mm stripes. A small
part of the substrate is peeled off the photopolymer to ease later measurements. The stripes are tested using a peel-off test
according to DIN EN 1464 measuring between protective film and photopolymer. Each test is repeated 3-7 times.

B = substrate (w/o liner, if there is one), A = protective cover film. In a dark room environment the substrate liner (if
there is a substrate liner) is removed and the Bayfol® HX film is cut into 20 mm x 200 mm stripes. A small part of the
substrate is peeled of the photopolymer to ease later measurements. Each stripe is adhered with a sticky tape to the 1 mm
thick support (PS ruler). The stripes are tested using a peel-off test according to DIN EN 1464 measuring between
protective film and photopolymer. Each test is repeated 3-7 times.
2.4. Measurement of the adhesion of the photopolymer film to the thermoplastic substrate in the exposed /
bleached state
A = substrate (w/o liner, if there is one). Same procedure as described under subsection 2.3., however the Bayfol® HX
film is either flood cured or exposed at first.
B = substrate (w/o liner, if there is one), A = protective cover film. Same procedure as described under subsection 2.3.,
however the Bayfol® HX film is either flood cured or exposed at first.
2.5. Typical results
In Figure 5 we show an example of a series of force – displacement curve for a specific setup.
Figure 5: Example of a peel force – displacement measurement series with 5 repetitions.

In typical applications of Bayfol® HX film the protective cover film is removed in the non-bleached state to laminate the
free photopolymer surface to the recording support, which is usually a glass plate. In this step a low adhesions force of
the protective cover film to the non-bleached photopolymer layer is important for a smooth release. After integration of
the recorded vHOE amongst others the adhesion of the bleached / exposed photopolymer layer to the substrate is
important. Usually the higher the adhesion force the better the performance. All those adhesion forces may depend on the
photopolymer formulation, the photopolymer thickness, the dryer conditions during the matrix cure, the lamination
pressure when the protective cover film is applied, the chemistry of the substrate and the protective cover film and so on.
To gain an overview of the magnitude of the adhesion forces involved in dependence of the chemistry of the substrate
and the protective cover film we reviewed our data base on Bayfol® HX film grades that we produced in our production
coating line, irrespective of the detailed photopolymer formulation, the photopolymer thickness and all other coating
process parameters. In Table 1 we listed the adhesion as peel force between the protective cover film to the non-bleached
photopolymer layer and the substrate to the bleached / exposed photopolymer layer as comparison.

Table 1: Peel force of the protective cover film towards the non-bleached photopolymer layer and the peel force of the
substrate towards the bleached / exposed photopolymer layer.
Used as Protective Cover Film Used as Substrate

Film Chemistry Peel Force (N/mm) Peel Force (N/mm)
towards the non-bleached Photopolymer Layer towards the bleached / exposed Photopolymer Layer
Polycarbonate (PC) 0.030 – 0.064 0.740 – 1.130

Polyethylenterphthalate (PET) 0.030 – 0.051 0.350
Amorphous polyamide (PA) 0.009 – 0.018 0.110 – 0.150
Polypropylen (PP) 0.004 – 0.005 Coating not possible
Polyethylen (PE) 0.004 – 0.005 Coating not possible
Triacetate (TAC) 0.003 – 0.005 0.100 – 0.350
PET with primer (PETwP) 0.003 – 0.005 0.003 – 0.017
For the use as protective cover film the highest peel forces are observed for PC and PET and the medium peel forces are
observed for PA. This roughly correlates with the polarity of the chemistry of the protective cover film. By this the
lowest values of the peel force are observed for the non-polar olefin type PP and PE. An exception is TAC which shows
similar low peel forces like PP and PE. And also a PET treated with a specific primer PETwP could change the peel
force behavior dramatically compared to the bare PET protective cover film.
For the use as substrate again the highest peel forces are observed for PC and PET and the medium values are seen for
PA and this time TAC. This makes again sense in terms of the polarity of the substrates. However they are significantly
higher (order of magnitude(s)) than the respective peel forces if those films are used as protective cover films. On PP and
PE coating of our photopolymer formulation is not possible because of their low surface energy. It would also not make
sense as long as we have to record through such substrates as they are not of optical quality. However the specific
PETwP substrates offer excellent coating properties for our photopolymer formulations and exhibit similar low adhesion
as the lowest peel forces of the protective cover films indicate. Therefor PETwP are suitable candidate substrates for a
transfer grade of Bayfol® HX film.
In a transfer grade the peel force of the protective cover film towards the photopolymer layer in the non-bleached state
has to be higher as the peel force of the substrate to the non-bleached photopolymer layer. Therefore, as a protective
cover film, that could be combined with the PETwP substrate to facilitate a transfer grade, we can focus on PC, PET and
PA based on the peel forces in Table 1. PET is not an as good candidate as PC or PA as protective cover film in this case
as it has birefringence and this will limit the ways how to record a vHOE through it. If we want to remove also the
remaining protective cover film after vHOE recording and bleaching, the peel force of the protective cover film towards
the bleached / exposed photopolymer layer has to be as low as acceptable. Based on the data given in Table 1 PA is the
preferred candidate as a protective cover film.
As Table 1 only was used to get a rough overview and does not contain all the necessary peel forces we will showcase in
the following in more detail how to control adhesion for specific cases.
At first we investigate the thickness dependency of the peel forces for a fixed photopolymer formulation (∆n ~ 0.045)
coated on a PETwP substrate and using PA as protective cover film. Respective photopolymer films were coated on the
pilot line. The results are shown in Figure 6. We varied the thickness d of the photopolymer layer from 1.3 µm to 3.0 µm
to 5.0 µm and finally to 10.0 µm. The peel forces were measured according to the procedures described in the
subsections 2.1. to 2.4. for the protective cover film and for the substrate in the non-bleached and as well in the bleached
state. Obviously the peel force of the protective cover film PA is more or less independent on d and on the state of the
photopolymer layer, either non-bleached or bleached / exposed. However the peel force of the substrate increases with d
in the non-bleached state as well as in the bleached / exposed state. By this the peel force of the substrate in the non-

bleached state becomes larger than the peel force of the protective cover film at d ≥ 5.0 µm. At d = 3.0 µm both peel
forces are very similar. Experimentally the substrate peels 1st in the non-bleached state for d = 1.3 µm and d = 3.0 µm.
For those small thicknesses this Bayfol® HX film grade can be used as transfer grade in the non-bleached state. Only in
the bleached / exposed state the substrate peels 1st for thicknesses up to d = 10 µm. It should be noted that the peel force
of the photopolymer layer towards the substrate decreases upon bleaching / exposure in this specific Bayfol® HX film
grade.
Figure 6: Dependency of peel forces on the photopolymer layer thickness d. Photopolymer formulation fixed (∆n ~ 0.045).
To facilitate a Bayfol® HX film grade that can act as a transfer grade in the non-bleached state at larger d the peel force
of the protective cover film towards the non-bleached photopolymer layer has to be increased. According to what we
learned from Table 1 and the discussion of the results the use of PC as protective cover film would be the logical step.
We first coated photopolymer films - this time on the production line - with thicknesses d = 1.3 mm and d = 3.0 µm of
the photopolymer formulation (∆n ~ 0.045), using PETwP as substrate and PA or PC as protective cover films. The
results of the measurement of the peel forces are depicted in Figure 7.
Figure 7: Dependency of the peel forces on the photopolymer thickness d and the chemistry of the protective cover film.
Photopolymer formulation fixed (∆n ~ 0.045).
Again for d = 1.3 µm and d = 3.0 µm in the non-bleached state the peel forces of the protective cover film PA and the
substrate PETwP are very similar with the peel force of the PA protective cover film being slightly higher.
Experimentally the substrate peels 1st in the non-bleached state for d = 1.3 µm and d = 3.0 µm for the protective cover
film PA, as expected. When we use PC as a protective cover film its peel force towards the non-bleached photopolymer
layer is significantly higher than that of PA. And again experimentally the substrate peels 1st in the non-bleached state for
d = 1.3 µm and d = 3.0 µm for the protective cover film PC.
To further extend the insights gained so far to thicker photopolymer layers we coated in the pilot line a d = 15 µm thick
photopolymer formulation (∆n ~ 0.045) on the PETwP substrate and varying the chemistry of the protective cover film in
a wider range, meaning using TAC, PE, PA and PC. The results are shown in Figure 8. As expected from all previous
insights only the photopolymer film using the PC as protective cover film can be used as a transfer grade of Bayfol® HX
film in the non-bleached state. For PA as a protective cover film the peel force towards the non-bleached photopolymer
at the given thickness d = 15 µm is simply not large enough.

Figure 8: Dependency of the peel forces on the chemistry of the protective cover film. Photopolymer formulation fixed (∆n
~ 0.045).
Finally we demonstrate how these peel forces depend also on the photopolymer formulation which can be characterized
by its ∆n that can be achieved in plane wave to pane wave grating recording. So far we used formulations that reach ∆n =
0.045. We repeated the pilot line coatings described above using a photopolymer formulation with ∆n = 0.035 with a
thickness of d = 20 µm. The results are shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9: Dependency of the peel forces on the chemistry of the protective cover film. Photopolymer formulation fixed (∆n
~ 0.035).
The most significant change by changing the photopolymer formulation is an increase of the peel force of the substrate
towards the photopolymer layer especially in the non-bleached state. In addition the peel force of the PC protective cover
film decreases too, so that no transfer grade of Bayfol® HX film can be obtained in the non-bleached state for this
photopolymer formulation.
3. COATING AND SELECTION OF COVER LAYER

According to the findings above and to demonstrate the potential use of a transfer grade of Bayfol® HX film we decided
to use a PC protective cover film of 67 µm thickness, as it shows highest adhesion to the non-bleached photopolymer
layer in all cases. The photopolymer layer thickness was chosen to be d = 15 µm and the photopolymer formulation was
selected to show a ∆n = 0.045. This transfer grade of Bayfol® HX film corresponds to the plot of the peel forces on the
very right hand position in Figure 8. The use of a PC protective cover layer will have further advantages for forming a
plastic / photopolymer / plastic sandwich stack as it will become clear later in this paper. We will call this specific
transfer grade of Bayfol® HX film TG1 in the following.
4. PHYSICAL BONDING
In 21 we described two different ways how to achieve a plastic / vHOE / plastic sandwich layer stack. One way is to use a
compatible OCA that limits the shift of the Bragg condition to a low and reproducible level that can be compensated in
the recording setup already and a second way using a proprietary UV-curable adhesive film. In both ways, besides the
base film an adhesive layer is placed in between the vHOE containing photopolymer film and the final top layer. That
means at least four layers are involved. OCA layers may be too soft and temperature sensitive so that they could not be
applied to FIM as outlined in 21, UV curable adhesive layers may be problematic to use when the plastic / vHOE / plastic
stack has to be formed before recording the vHOE in the photopolymer layer by obvious reasons. Another way to form

such stacks with less layers involved and especially useful for stack formation with the transfer grades before recording
will be described. We call this physical bonding. Details of this process will be outlineded in the following subsections.
4.1. Physical bonding after vHOE recording
This process is especially suitable in which the vHOE covers only a limited part of the full stack area.
Figure 10: Physical bonding after recording to achieve a plastic / vHOE / plastic sandwich layer stack.
First, after recording the vHOE but before bleaching, a cover layer is laminated (preferably a PC cover player) on the
free surface of the photopolymer layer. This non-activated plastic / vHOE / plastic sandwich stack is put into an oven
under dark room illumination at a certain temperature T for a certain time t to activate adhesion between the cover layer
and the free surface of the photopolymer layer. During this stage the peel force between the photopolymer layer and the
cover layer increases dramatically. After that oven step the activated stack is bleached using a UV-VIS lamp (λ) with a
specific dosage E.
4.2. Physical bonding before vHOE recording
This process is most flexible if used in combination with the transfer grade Bayfol® HX film.
Figure 11: Physical bonding before recording to achieve a plastic / vHOE / plastic sandwich layer stack.
In this case the base film of the unexposed photopolymer film can be the thermoplastic substrate itself or in the case of a
transfer grade Bayfol® HX film the remaining protective cover film. The process is the same as before including the
adhesion activation step in the oven. However after that adhesion activation and before bleaching the vHOE recording
has to be performed.

How to measure the resulting adhesion via the peel force the process is described in the following subsection.
4.3. Measurement of the adhesion of the photopolymer to physically bonded cover layers
Physically bonded cover layer peels 1st.
B = physically bonded cover layer, A = substrate (w/o liner, if there is one) or the remaining protective cover film (w/o
liner, if there is one) in the case of a transfer grade of Bayfol® HX film (see Figure 4, left). Using adhesive tape (Master-
Carr (Scotch 3M USA) a 1 m thick PC support (Makrofol® DE1-1 film, all liners removed) is adhered to the base film of
the stack. The liner of both the polycarbonate and the applied substrate are now removed. The stack is cut into 20 mm x
210 mm test stripes. A small part of the physically bonded cover film is peeled off the photopolymer to ease later
measurements. Each stripe is adhered with a sticky tape to the 1 mm thick support (PS ruler). The stripes are tested using
a peel-off test according to DIN EN 1464 measuring between protective film and photopolymer. Each test is repeated 3-7
times.
Base film peels 1st.
A = physically bonded cover layer (see Figure 4, right). The free photopolymer surface is adhered to the 1 mm plastic
support (PC, Makrofol® DE1-1 film, all liners removed) with the help of super glue. Details of this process are described
above. The resulting stack is then cut into 20 mm x 200 mm stripes. A small part of the protective cover film is peeled
off the photopolymer to ease later measurements. Each stripe is adhered with a sticky tape to the 1 mm thick support.
The stripes are tested using a peel-off test according to DIN EN 1464 measuring between protective film and
photopolymer. Each test is repeated 3-7 times.
4.4. Basic dependencies to increase bond strength
Several parameters impact the adhesion of the physically bonded cover layer:
• heating temperature T,
• heating time t
• and if the area of the photopolymer was already exposed by the recording laser light.
Higher T results in higher adhesion forces, also longer t gives higher adhesion. Already exposed areas of the
photopolymer will achieve a lower adhesion. To investigate the time – temperature behaviour of this physical bonding
process more in detail we measured the peel force for a laminated PC cover layer in dependence of the heating
temperature T at three different heating times t1, t2 and t3. In this case we used a photopolymer formulation giving a ∆n =
0.03 and a photopolymer thickness d = 70 µm. We used a 125 µm thick PC film (Makrofol® DE1-1) for physical
bonding a cover layer. The results are shown in Figure 12.
Figure 12: Time – temperature behavior of the peel force obtained by physical bonding. Left: raw data. Right: master curve
@ t = 120 s (means temperatures of t = 30 s and t = 300 s data are scaled). Photopolymer formulation with ∆n ~ 0.03
and thickness d = 70 µm.

Obviously at very low T and very short t there is no increase in peel force that would extend the peel force of a pure
protective cover film. At very high T and very long t the peel force saturates at a level that can be compared to the peel
force towards a substrate when coated on. Also if we compare the curve shape of the peel force versus T for the various t
they are very similar and can be superimposed to a single master curve if for the different t the absolute T is scaled by a
factor. The result is shown in Figure 12 in the right side. This time – temperature superposition behaviour is typical for
an activated bonding process. Besides this it should be noted that the peel force depends on the photopolymer
formulation, the photopolymer layer thickness d and the chemistry of the cover that is physically bonded to the
photopolymer.
Figure 13: Time – temperature behavior of the peel force obtained by physical bonding. Left: raw data. Right: master curve
@ t = 300 s. Photopolymer formulation with ∆n ~ 0.045 and thickness d = 6 µm.
Another example is shown in Figure 13. Here we used a photopolymer formulation giving a ∆n = 0.045 and a
photopolymer thickness d = 6 µm. We used a 250 µm thick PC film (Makrofol® DE1-1) for physical bonding a cover
layer.
If we compare physical bonding before and after vHOE recording we have to state that if physical bonding is done after
vHOE recording the Bragg condition shifts depending on the recording geometry, T, and t. Higher T results in larger
Bragg detuning, also longer t gives larger Bragg detuning. However the time – temperature behaviour for the Bragg
detuning is different from that of the adhesion. So an optimum for this trade-off between adhesion and Bragg detuning
has to be elaborated in the specific vHOE case. In general a good starting point to optimize physical bonding is using
70°C < T < 100°C and 20 s < t < 600 s. If we do the physical bonding before vHOE recording the Bragg detuning is not
decisive any more, however as we cannot laminate the sticky photopolymer surface to the recoding support anymore, in
general a more complex recoding setup may have to be used.
A further option to optimize physical bonding as described above is to treat he to bonded surface of the cover layer with
UV radiation, plasma or corona.
It should be noted that by the heat treatment used in the physical bonding process the photopolymer film depicted in
Figure 9 on the very right side could be changed into a transfer grade of Bayfol® HX film, as the peel force of the PC
protective cover film can be significantly increased above the peel force to the PETwP substrate in the non-bleached
state.
5. FINAL STACK FORMATION

In a dark room environment A4 size sheets of TG1 were prepared for High Pressure Forming (HPF). The PETwP
substrate was removed 1st and the photopolymer was laminated onto a 250 µm Makrofol® DE1-1 sheet using a rubber
roller, as described in subsection 4.3. These stacks were put into an oven and heated at 80 °C for 300 s. After the oven
treatment the stacks were stored in light tight sealed aluminium bags.

6. 3D HIGH PRESSURE FORMING OF THE STACK
The stacks prepared as described in section 5 were put in a dark environment in a HPF machine (SAMK 400 from
Niebling, Germany), see Figure 14.
Figure 14: View into the SAMK High Pressure Forming (HPF) machine of Niebling.
Here each stack was heated 1st within 7.5 s to 110 °C using radiant heaters set to 240°C to 280°C. Immediately
afterwards the heated stack was pushed onto a die for 10 s under high pressure of ~ 100 bar. The die temperature was set
to 120 °C. The die produces a lens shape of 100 mm diameter with a radius of curvature of 180 mm. The whole cycle
including heating and high pressure forming took 17.8 s.
An example of a formed sheet is depicted in Figure 15, left side. Still the coloration caused by the sensitizer dye of the
initiator system can be seen, as no exposure or bleaching has been done. On the right side of Figure 15 the formed sheet
is put between crossed polarizer sheets. Obviously there is only low birefringence in the formed area with the centre free
of any birefringence. Also wrinkle formation is completely suppressed and no delamination of the PC / photopolymer /
PC sandwich stack was observed, which proof that the obtained adhesion by physical bonding at all interfaces was
sufficient. According to the previously reported results the peel forces should be in the range of 0.3 N/mm.
s
Figure 15: Left: 3D formed PC / photopolymer / PC stack. Right: 3D formed lens between crossed polarizers.
The process described in subsection 4.2. and further sketched in Figure 11 is now extended by the HPF process between
the physical bonding step and the vHOE recording. Figure 16 shows the extended flow chart of the whole process.

Figure 16: Physical bonding before recording to achieve a plastic / vHOE / plastic sandwich layer stack, including the high
pressure forming step.
7. RECORDING OF THE VHOE INTO THE 3D FORMED STACK

Finally we want to demonstrate the recording of a vHOE into the physically bonded and 3D formed PC / photopolymer /
PC stack. For the sake of simplicity we used a monochrome recording with 532 nm in a 56.3° / 0° reflection geometry.
As an object we used a plane diffusor with a rectangular aperture of ~ 20 mm × 23 mm under 0° to the surface normal of
the vHOE. The reference beam – a plane wave - is incident under 56.3° to the surface with P-polarization. P-polarization
supresses almost all ghost holograms caused by Fresnel reflections at the plastic / air interfaces. This object is easy to
visualize in a show and tell session by reconstruction of the real image of the diffusor with the phase conjugated
reference beam.
A 1st trial to record this plane diffusor directly by two beam exposure into the 3D formed stack was successful, however
movement fringes can be seen in the vHOE area which has a size of ~ 13 mm × 20 mm. As the stack has a total thickness
of 332 µm in total and the sheet has a size of ~ A4 it was difficult to clamp the sheet so that during the exposure period
no movement of the thin recording stack occurred. In principle this can be avoided by a dedicated clamping setup and /
or using a thicker PC cover layer in physical bonding. Within the framework of this paper this was not an option. We
therefor used a trick to circumvent the influence of the movement during exposure by recording a master vHOE,
laminating this master vHOE on the 3D formed stack and make a contact copy. As now master and copy film move
together movement fringes could be avoided completely.
The master recording is shown in Figure 17.
Figure 17: Master recording of a diffusor.

As master film we used the same TG1 photopolymer film as we have used it to produce the 3D formed stacks. We
peeled the PETwP substrate first and laminated the master film on a 1 mm thick glass plate. The diffusor sheet was

conformed to blank 3D formed PC lens and place at a distance of ~150 mm. The intensity of the diffuse beam at the
position of the master film was about 0.230 mW/cm2 in the vHOE plane and the intensity of the reference beam in the
vHOE plane was 1.375 mW/cm2. This beam ratio of ~ 1:6 takes care to suppress intermodulation noise from the diffuse
object into the vHOE. The exposure time was 4.5 s. An incoherent pre-exposure was done with a green LED using a
dosage of ~3 mJ/cm2 in the vHOE plane to further suppress the recording of noise holograms in the master 19.
The contact copy recording is depicted in Figure 18.
Figure 18: Contact copy to record the diffusor in the 3D formed PC / photopolymer / PC stack.
The master was laminated on the convex side of the 3D formed copy stack including also the TG1 photopolymer. Again
an incoherent pre-exposure was done with a green LED using a dosage of ~ 3 mJ/cm2 in the vHOE plane to further
suppress the recording of noise holograms in the copy 19. After that the copy was recorded with the reference beam
incident on the concave side of the 3D formed copy stack using again 1.375 mW/cm2 intensity at an exposure time of 10
s. This setup assures that the curvature of the diffuse object used in the master recording into a plane master film is
compensated in the copy process, so that in reconstruction again a plane diffusor is obtained, as if we would have
recorded it in the before described direct two beam recording.
8. EVALUATION
The scheme of reconstruction of the real image of the copy vHOE using the phase conjugated reference beam is depicted
in Figure 19.
Figure 19: Reconstruction of the real image of the diffusor.

Further the photograph in Figure 20 shows the homogeneous rectangular real image of a diffusor recorded in a 3D
formed PC / PP / PC stack when the vHOE is illuminated with a green laser pointer.

Figure 20: Photograph of the real image of the diffusor.
A rough estimate of the efficiency results in a value above 90%.
9. CONCLUSION
In this paper we first demonstrated how a transfer grade of Bayfol® HX film can be generated by carefully selecting the
substrate and the protective cover film and how the involved adhesion forces at the interfaces can be controlled. The
transfer grade allows to peel off the substrate first and if properly designed the bare photopolymer layer can be retained
after recording as the protective cover film can be removed too. In addition to (UV) OCA bonding, as demonstrated in
earlier papers, we introduced physical bonding by heat activation as another possibility. Physical bonding reduces the
layers involved to form a plastic / photopolymer / plastic stack and can be applied before or after recording a vHOE into
the photopolymer layer. Especially in combination with the transfer grade concept, physical bonding is a powerful tool to
enhance the possibilities to integrate vHOEs into plastic sandwich layer stacks that are compatible with state of the art
plastic processing. We proofed this by showing the integration of the photopolymer layer into a plastic sandwich stack
that undergoes a 3D forming - using high pressure forming - of this sandwich stack before recording. Finally we
recorded successfully a vHOE into this 3D formed stack that reconstruct a plane image of a diffusor. This further
demonstrates the extremely high flexibility of the Bayfol® HX film technology platform in recording and integrating
vHOEs in plastic optical parts. This in turn allows lightweight and thin design of complex optical devices using cost
effective plastic processing technology.
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PROCEEDINGS OF SPIE

Expanding possibilities how to apply

Friedrich-Karl Bruder, Johannes Frank, Sven Hansen,

Friedrich-Karl Bruder, Johannes Frank, Sven Hansen, Roland Künzel, Christel

Event: SPIE OPTO, 2020, San Francisco, California, United States

Downloaded From: https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/conference-proceedings-of-spie on 13 Aug 2023 Terms of Use: https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/terms-of-use

Practical Holography XXXIV: Displays, Materials, and Applications, edited by

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2. EVALUATION OF ADHESION FORCES AS PEEL FORCES

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Figure 5: Example of a peel force – displacement measurement series with 5 repetitions.

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Used as Protective Cover Film Used as Substrate

Polycarbonate (PC) 0.030 – 0.064 0.740 – 1.130

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3. COATING AND SELECTION OF COVER LAYER

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5. FINAL STACK FORMATION

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7. RECORDING OF THE VHOE INTO THE 3D FORMED STACK

Figure 17: Master recording of a diffusor.

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Figure 19: Reconstruction of the real image of the diffusor.

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