Nonlinear scattering studies of carbon black suspensions using photoacoustic Z-scan technique

Abstract

Nonlinear scattering properties of carbon black suspensions (CBS) are studied using nanosecond photoacoustic (PA) and optical z-scan techniques. When the laser is operated in multi-pulse mode, no nonlinear behavior is observed in PAZ-scans. However, in the single-pulse mode, we observed the nonlinear scattering in both PAZ and optical z- scans. Our results are in agreement with the well-known bleaching effect in CBS and demonstrate the importance of pulse repetition frequency for studying nonlinear scattering using photoacoustics. The effective nonlinear extinction coefficients of CBS were determined, and we found that PAZ-scan data are more sensitive and offer information on higher nonlinearities.