Nonlinear optical properties of polyvinylcarbazole composites with graphene

Abstract

The study has focused on polyvinylcarbazole (PVK) composites with graphene. It has been shown that there is a noticeable nonadditive shoulder on the long-wavelength edge of the optical absorption of PVK in these samples, which can be attributed to the formation of a charge-transfer complex between PVK as a donor and graphene as an acceptor. The formation of the complex causes a significant nonlinear optical effect in the PVK/graphene composite. The revealed increase in both the nonlinearity coefficient with increasing laser intensity and the cross section with increasing incident energy density is due to the formation of the graphene−· radical anion, an additional species contributing to nonlinear absorption, with an increase in the radiation energy density. Nonlinear optical properties of PVK composites with graphene isolated from a solution in tetrachloroethane after 1.5-h centrifugation (sample 1) have been considered. It has been suggested that a significant decrease in optical transmission of laser radiation by the composite TOA = 0.4 at an energy density at focus of 502 J/cm2 is due to the formation of the PVK/graphene charge-transfer complex responsible for the nonadditive shoulder on the long-wavelength optical absorption edge of PVK. During photoexcitation of graphene in the PVK/graphene composites at a laser wavelength of 1064 nm, mobile holes are generated in PVK, indicating the formation of graphene−· radical anions as a result of charge transfer from PVK to photoexcited graphene. The observed increase in both β with an increase in the laser radiation intensity and the cross section (σexc — σ0) with an increase in the incident energy density may be due to either the contribution of nonlinear transitions (S0 → S2, S0 → S1 → S2, T1 → T2) or the formation of the additional species, the graphene-· radical anions, participating in nonlinear absorption by increasing the energy density at the focus (Ffoc, J/cm2).