Bacteriorhodopsin and its mutants for light-induced anisotropy and dinamic holography recording

Abstract

We present our results on the optimization of light-induced anisotropy characteristics and holography recording on the films of genetically and chemically modified bacteriorhodopsin (BR), the photochromic retinal protein. Gelatin films with chemically modified D96N and D96E BR mutants might be promising for both optical data storage and spatial light modulators. We were the first to show that E204Q BR films (wherein the proton release complex in the protein is affected), exhibit a considerable increase in the diffraction efficiency and initial peak sharpness in the holography recording kinetics as compared to wild type BR and D96N BR. The E204Q BR is the only known holographic reversible material where such sharpness of the initial transient process is observed in dynamic recording by low-intensity red light from a cw He—Ne laser.