Laser shaping and optical power limiting of pulsed Laguerre–Gaussian laser beams of high-order radial modes in fullerene C60

We study the strong nonlinear optical dynamics of nanosecond pulsed Laguerre–Gaussian laser beams of high-order radial modes with zero orbital angular momentum propagating in the fullerene C60molecular medium. It is found that the spatiotemporal profile of the incident pulsed Laguerre–Gaussian laser beam is strongly reshaped during its propagation in the C60molecular medium. The centrosymmetric temporal profile of the incident pulse gradually evolves into a noncentrosymmetric meniscus shape, and the on-axis pulse duration is clearly depressed. Furthermore, the field intensity is distinctly attenuated due to the field-intensity-dependent reverse saturable absorption, and clear optical power limiting behavior is observed for different orders of the input pulsed Laguerre–Gaussian laser beams before the takeover of the saturation effect;the lower the order of the Laguerre–Gaussian beam, the lower the energy transmittance.

Study on the optical limiting properties of the mixed liquid of carbon black suspensions and green tea solution by multi-pulse laser

The optical limiting properties of the mixed liquid of carbon black suspensions （CBS） and green tea solution were studied by using an 8 ns laser pulse at 532 nm. The optical limiting effects of the CBS and mixed liquid have been compared between 5 and 10 Hz repetition frequencies with nanosecond laser pulse. The experimental results indicate that the optical limiting threshold of the sample with the incidence laser at 10 Hz repetition frequency is lower than at 5 Hz repetition frequency. The possible reasons for the influence of the repetition frequency on the samples are discussed. And by observing the optical radiant distributions when the laser pulse passing through different samples, a possible mechanism for the observed effects is suggested. At the same time, the result shows that the optical limiting of CBS is the dominant factor to optical limiting of the mixed liquid.

Measurement of stimulated Brillouin scattering(SBS) threshold based on waveform variation of SBS optical limiting

This paper proposes a method for measuring the stimulated Brillouin scattering （SBS） threshold based on waveform variation of SBS optical limiting. The output waveforms for different pump power densities are numerically simulated, and validated in the Nd：YAG seed-injected laser system. The results indicate that SBS does not take place in the case of a low pump power density and thus the output power scales up linearly with pump power. Once the pump power density exceeds the SBS threshold, SBS takes place and thereby the energies are transferred from pump to Stokes. As a result, a small shoulder appears in the trailing edge of the output waveform, which provides another method to determine the SBS threshold.

Tailoring optical properties of TiO_2 in silica glass for limiting applications

We present the linear and nonlinear optical studies on TiO2-SiO2 nanocomposites with varying compositions. Opti- cal band gap of the material is found to vary with the amount of SiO2 in the composite. The phenomenon of two-photon absorption （TPA） in TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposites has been studied using open aperture Z-scan technique. The nanocom- posites show better nonlinear optical properties than pure TiO2, which can be attributed to the surface states and weak dielectric confinement of TiO2 nanoparticles by SiO2 matrix. The nanocomposites are thermally treated and similar studies are performed. The anatase form of TiO2 in the nanocomposites shows superior properties relative to the amorphous and rutile counterpart. The involved mechanism is explained by rendering the dominant role played by the excitons in the TiO2 nanoparticles.

Optical power limiting of ultrashort hyper-Gaussian pulses in cascade three-level system

Propagation of strong femtosecond hyper-Gaussian pulses in a cascade three-level molecular system is studied by solving numerically the Maxwell–Bloch equations by the iterative predictor-corrector finite-difference time-domain method.Optical power limiting behavior induced by strong nonlinear two-photon absorption is observed for different orders of the femtosecond hyper-Gaussian pulses. Pulses of a higher order temporal profile are found to have a wider power range of optical limiting but a larger output saturation intensity. Both the output saturation value and the damage threshold of optical power limiting decrease with pulse duration increasing. The decrease of the pulse area along the pulse propagation is much slower than that obtained from the two-photon area theorem due to invalidity of the slowly varying amplitude approximation and the monochromatic field hypothesis.

Two-photon Absorption and Optical Power Limiting Properties of Two Novel Dibenzothiophene-based Chromophores

Two novel V-shaped symmetric chromophores： E-2,8-bis（4-vinyl-4-carbazol-9-yl）diben- zothiophene （abbreviated as SK-G1） and E-2,8-bis（4-vinyl-4-triphenylamino） dibenzothiophene （abbreviated as ST-G1） have been synthesized and characterized. Their two photon absorption properties were measured by the open-aperture femtosecond Z-scan technique and the nanosecond nonlinear optical transmission （NLT）, respectively, when pumped by Ti： sapphire laser at 750 nm and 800 nm.

PREPARATION OF SOLUBLE SUBSTITUTED POLYACETYLENE OPTICAL LIMITING MATERIAL

Two novel polyacetylenes bearing nonlinear optical chromophoric group poly（3-（4-[4-（n-butyloxy） phenylazophenyl]carbonyl）oxy-1-propyne） （poly（1a）） and poly（3-（4-[4-（n-heptyloxy）phenylazophenyl]carbonyl）-oxy-l- propyne） （poly（lb）） were synthesized with [Rh（nbd）Cl]2-EtaN as catalysts. These polyacetylenes are soluble by using an alkyl spacer and an alkyloxyl group as a substituent. They were characterized by FTIR, NMR, GPC and UV-Vis and their optical limiting and nonlinear optical properties were investigated using 8 ns pulse at 532 nm wavenumber. The results show that these soluble functional polyacetylenes possess optical limiting properties and large nonlinear optical properties and poly（1b） possesses better optical limiting and nonlinear optical properties than poly（ 1 a）.

Thiophene-fluorene derivatives with high three-photon absorption activities and their application to optical power limiting

The three-photon absorption （3PA） properties of two thiophene-fluorene derivatives （abbreviated as MOTFTBr and ATFTBr） have been determined by using a Q-switched Nd：YAG laser pumped with 38ps pulses at 1064nm in DMF. The measured 3PA cross-sections are 152×10^-78cm^6s^2 and 139× 10^-78cm^6s^2, respectively. The optimized structures were obtained by AM1 calculations and the results indicate that these two molecules show nonplanar structures, and attaching different donors has different effects on the molecular structure. The charge density distributions during the excitation were also systematically studied by using AM1 method. In addition, an obvious optical power limiting effect induced by 3PA has been demonstrated for both derivatives.

Numerical analyses on optical limiting performances of chloroindium phthalocyanines with different substituent positions

Optical limiting properties of two soluble chloroindium phthalocyanines with a- and β-alkoxyl substituents in nanosecond laser field have been studied by solving numerically the coupled singlet-triplet rate equation together with the paraxial wave field equation under the Crank-Nicholson scheme. Both transverse and longitudinal effects of the laser field on photophysical properties of the compounds are considered. Effective transfer time between the ground state and the lowest triplet state is defined in reformulated rate equations to characterize dynamics of singlet-triplet state population transfer. It is found that both phthalocyanines exhibit good nonlinear optical absorption abilities, while the compound with a-substituent shows enhanced optical limiting performance. Our ab-initio calculations reveal that the phthalocyanine with a-substituent has more obvious electron delocalization and lower frontier orbital transfer energies, which are responsible for its preferable photophysical properties.

Investigation on the effect of beam divergence angle upon output waveform based on stimulated Brillouin scattering optical limiting

This paper investigates the effect of beam divergence angle on output waveform based on stimulated Brillouin scattering optical limiting.Output waveforms in the case of different pump divergence angles are numerically simulated,and validated in a Nd：YAG seed-injected laser system.The results indicate that a small pump divergence angle can lead to good interaction between pump and Stokes,and a platform can be easily realized in the transmitted waveform.In contrast,a peak followed by the platform appears when the divergence angle becomes large.

Optical Limiting Response in Er^(3+)-Doped TeO_2-Nb_2O_5-ZnO Glass

The nonlinear absorption properties of Er^3＋ doped telluride glass were investigated with picosecond laser pulses. The optical limiting response was measured with a transmission technique and reverse saturable absorption （RSA） with a Z-scan technique, which proved that the glass was a promising material for practical optical limiters. The experimental resulted showed that the excited absorption was responsible for the measured RSA, resulting in the optical limiting response. The measured data could be well simulated with a rate equation model to obtain the absorption cross sections of the excited state.

Synthesis, Structure, and Optical Limiting Properties of an Axial Substituted Bis(8-oxide quinoline)zirconium Phthalocyanine

A novel bis(8-oxide quinoline)zironium phthalocyanine [(OQ)2 Zr Pc] with two 8-oxide quinolone anions at the same axial positions has been successfully synthesized and its chemical structure has been assigned by the 1 H NMR, MS and two-dimensional correlation infrared(2D-IR) spectroscopy as well as by single-crystal X-ray structural analysis. It possessed a moderately effective nonlinear absorption coefficient βeff of 6.69×10-14cm/GW at 532 nm in DMF solution, implying it is a promising candidate for nonlinear optical materials.

Spectroscopic Properties and Three-photon Absorption Induced Optical Limiting of Series of Novel Nonlinear Chromophores

Three novel nonlinear chromophores with symmetric D-π-D molecular structure and extended conjugated length were synthesized. Solvatochromism analysis shows great symmetric intramolecular charge transfer occurring in chromophores by the enhancement in the dipole moment between the ground and excited states. The properties of optical power limiting induced by three-photon absorption （3PA） are demonstrated. Large 3PA coefficients and the corresponding molecular cross sections as high as 10^-74 cm^6s^2 were obtained for nanosecond laser pulses at 1.06μm from nonlinear transmission measurements.

Theoretical Analysis on Optical Limiting Properties of Newly Synthesized Graphene Oxide-Porphyrin Composites

Optical limiting （OL） properties and two-photon absorption （TPA） of a series of covalently linked graphene oxide-porphyrin composite materials have been investigated by numerically solving the rate equations and field intensity equation with an iterative predictor-corrector finite-difference time-domain technique in nanosecond time domain. Our results show that graphene oxide-porphyrin composites exhibit enhanced OL behavior and possess larger TPA cross section compared with individual porphyrins. Interestingly~ unlike the previous result that porphyrin with heavier central metal shows better nonlinear abilities than that with- out metal substitute, graphene oxide-metal free porphyrin composite has stronger nonlinear absorption properties compared with graphene oxide-metal porphyrin composite. The com- putational results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental ones. Special attention has been paid to the influence of thickness of the medium and pulse width on TPA cross sections, which presents that larger TPA cross sections are obtained as the medium is thicker or the pulse duration is wider.

Variation of Two-photon Absorption Cross Sections and Optical Limiting of Compounds Induced by Static Electric Field

By numerically solving the Maxwell-Bloch equations using an iterative predictor-corrector finite-difference time-domain technique, we investigate propagating properties of a few-cycle laser pulse in a 4,4＇-bis（di-n-butylamino） stilbene （BDBAS） molecular medium when a static electric field exists. Dynamical two-photon absorption （TPA） cross sections are obtained and optical limiting （OL） behavior is displayed. The results show that when the static electric field intensity increases, the dynamical TPA cross section is enhanced and the OL behavior is improved. Moreover, both even- and odd-order harmonic spectral components are generated with existence of the static electric field because it breaks the inversion symmetry of the BDBAS molecule. This work provides a method to modulate the nonlinear optical properties of the BDBAS compounds.

A Polypyrrole Hybrid Material Self-Assembled with Porphyrin: Facial Synthesis and Enhanced Optical Limiting Properties

Polypyrrole/porphyrin nanohybrid (PPy/Tpp(OH)4 nanohybrid) have been synthesized through a self-assembled approach, and the assynthesized PPy/Tpp(OH)4 nanohybrid are characterized by Fourier-transform infrared, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, Ultraviolet-visible absorption, scanning electron microscopy, and steady state fluorescence spectroscopic techniques. Formation of the PPy/Tpp(OH)4 nanohybrid dramatically improved the solubility and processability of the PPy-based nanomaterial. The nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of PPy/Tpp(OH)4 nanohybrid were measured by Z-scan at 532 nm with nanosecond laser pulse, the results indicating that PPy/Tpp(OH)4 nanohybrid exhibits a enhanced NLO property in comparison with the benchmark PPy and Tpp(OH)4 due to a combination of mechanisms.

Nonlinear Optical Properties, Optical Limiting and Optical Switching of Ag Nanoparticles Prepared by a Green Synthetic Method

Silver nanoparticles were synthesized using an aqueous extract of cinnamon berks (cinnamon cassia) as a reducer and stabilizer. The synthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized using UV-Vis spectrometry and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), which revealed the nano nature of the particles. Nonlinear absorption and nonlinear refraction were measured using a Z-scan technique at different wavelengths with CW lasers. The third order nonlinear susceptibility was found to be between (1.5 to 22) ×10-14 m2/V2. The nonlinear property of the synthesized silver nanoparticles was used to demonstrate optical limiting and all-optical switching. An optical limiting threshold was found to be 0.1 mW at 632.8 nm.

Optical Limiting and Stabilization Properties of a Liquid Dye on 1064 nm Nanosecond Laser Pulses

A novel liquid dye 2-((2E,5E)-2,5-bis(4-(methyl(2,5, 8,11-tetraoxatridecan-13-yl)amino)benzylidene)cyclopentylidene) malononitrile (TO-BDCM) was synthesized by incorporating two oligo(ethenyl glycol) groups into the backbone of a prototype malononitrile derivative (BDCM) for the purpose of increasing its solubility in organic solvents. The nonlinear absorption properties of this liquid dye on 1064 nm ns pulsed laser were investigated in DMF with remarkably high concentration up to ~1M, showing a superior large nonlinear absorption coefficient of 55.6 cm3/GW2. Fairly good optical limiting and stabilization effects were achieved. Meanwhile, the liquid dye exhibited equivalent stability under laser irradiation compared to its prototype dye BDCM.

Nonlinear Optical Properties and Optical Limiting Measurements of {(1Z)-[4-(Dimethylamino)Phenyl]Methylene} 4-Nitrobenzocarboxy Hydrazone Monohydrate under CW Laser Regime

We report results from the investigation of the nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficient of {(1Z)-[4-(Dimethylamino)phenyl]methylene} 4-nitrobenzocarboxy hydrazone mono-hydrate (DMPM4NBCHM) solution using Z-scan technique with a continuous wave (CW) Argon ion laser. The results show that this type of organic material has a large nonlinear absorption and nonlinear refractive index at 488 nm and 514 nm. The origin of the nonlinear effects was discussed. We demonstrate that the light induced nonlinear refractive index variation, leads to limiting effect. The results indicated that DMPM4NBCHM could be promising candidates for application on nonlinear photonic devices and optical limiters.

A 12 Gbit/s limiting amplifier using 2 GaAs HBT technology for fiber-optic transmission system

A 12 Gbit/s limiting amplifier for fiber-optic transmission system is realized in a 2μm GaAs HBT technology. The whole circuit consists of an input buffer, three similar amplifier cells, an output buffer for driving 50 ft transmission lines and a pair of feedback networks for offset cancellation. At a positive supply voltage of 2 V and a negative supply voltage of - 2V, the power dissipation is about 280 mW. The small-signal gain is higher than 46 dB and the input dynamic range is about 40 dB with a constant single-ended output voltage swing of 400 mV. Satisfactory eye-diagrams are obtained at the bit rate of 12 Gbit/s limited by the test set-up. The chip area is 1.15 mm ×0.7 mm.