Laser-initiated polymerization of lauryl methacrylate: Laser repetition rate effect

The photoinitiated polymerization of lauryl methacrylate with a pulsed excimer laser source is highly dependent on the laser repetition rate and the absorbance (optical density) of the photoinitiator. The GPC chromatograms of poly(lauryl methacrylate) generated by the laser-initiated polymerization of lauryl methacrylate decrease in size and shift to lower molecular weight species with increasing repetition rate. In addition, the polymers produced at high laser repetition rates are characterized by a number of distinct narrow molecular weight GPC peaks. The decrease in polymerization efficiency is especially pronounced at laser pulsing frequencies greater than 3 Hz.