A new family of azobenzene containing polymer applicable for photoinduced surface relief formation is reported. An azobenzene containing acrylate was copolymerized with methacrylate monomers bearing an oligo(ethylene oxide) chain via free radical copolymerization, yielding soft liquid crystalline polymers. These copolymers displayed a smectic liquid crystal phase at room temperature. After preexposure to ultraviolet light, thin films of the liquid crystalline polymers showed highly sensitive photoinduced material transfer to generate the surface relief structures. The typical exposure dose required for full polymer migration was as low as 50 mJ cm(-2). The inscribed surface relief structures could be rapidly and fully erased either upon incoherent nonpolarized ultraviolet light irradiation or by heating close to the clear point of the soft liquid crystalline polymers. On the other hand, the chemical cross-linking, using a mixed vapor of hydrogen chloride and formaldehyde after surface relief inscription, resulted in a drastic improvement of the shape stability, maintaining the structure at high temperatures up to 250 degreesC. After cross-linking, the trans-to-cis photoisomerization readily proceeded without any modification of the surface morphology and can therefore be applied to the photoswitchable alignment of nematic liquid crystals.