Creation of advanced optical limiters based on J-type phthalocyanine dimers and their conjugates with single-walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Creation of effective means of protection from laser radiation of high power requires the development of optical materials (working substance), with their transparence being decreased sharply above a certain critical value of the laser intensity due to the appearance of non-linear optical properties (limiting threshold). Based on the threshold model, the working substance of the optical limiter was characterized. Experimental data of z-scan with open aperture are used to determine the nonlinear optical parameters of solutions of dimeric phthalocyanine complexes of Mg and Zn of J-type in tetrahydrofuran (THF) and thin films of their conjugates with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The output characteristic (output (peak) fluence vs input (peak) fluence), that describes the basic properties of optical limiters, was obtained with the fixed location of the optical limiter. Dimeric phthalocyanine complexes were found to have low limiting threshold ~ 2 MW·cm-2 and high value of the nonlinear absorption coefficient ~ 330 and 370 cm GW-1, respectively. Conjugates of these dimeric phthalocyanines with SWCNTs have been produced for the improving of the limiting parameters and increasing of the optical nonlinearity. Size of J-type dimeric phthalocyanine complexes of Mg and Zn were determined by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The atomic force microscopy (AFM) allowed to determine the dimensions of nanotubes. The structure parameters, such as diameter and defects as well as the strength of aggregates were estimated with the Raman spectroscopy. For our experiments, the lens with a focal length of 20 cm was used. As the laser radiation source, the Nd:YAG laser was used to generate pulses of 16 ns duration at a wavelength of 532 nm with the linearly polarized laser beam in the horizontal plane and a shape closed to Gaussian type. © (2016) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.