Monte-Carlo simulation of the birefringence kinetics in azobenzene-containing materials

The photoinduced optical anisotropy (birefringence and dichroism) in azobenzene-containing materials gives rise to a variety of applications in photonics by way of controlling the anisotropic properties at a nanoscale level. These applications require modeling the photoisomerization process kinetics. This is a complex and stochastic task that depends on many parameters. The paper presents a computationally effective Monte-Carlo simulation of recording, relaxation and erasure of the photoinduced anisotropy for a large number of 3D-oriented molecules at small angular increments between the neighboring orientations. The modeling is in good agreement with the experiment for measuring the birefringence in the PAZO polymer. (paper)