Optical limiting properties and mechanisms of single-layer graphene dispersions in heavy-atom solvents.

Lihe Yan,Jinhai Si,Xuehui Sun,Xun Hou,Wenhui Yi,Yaobing Xiong

doi:10.1364/oe.22.031836

Abstract

The optical limiting (OL) properties of single-layer graphene dispersions in different solvents were studied using a nanosecond pulse laser. The graphene dispersions, especially in heavy-atom solvents, showed much better OL properties compared with referenced C60-toluene solution. The dependences of OL thresholds and nonlinear scattering (NLS) intensities on the solvent surface tensions indicated that, NLS effect played an important role in the OL process of graphene dispersions, while nonlinear absorption (NLA) effect might also contribute in solvents with heavy atoms. The NLA measurements further demonstrated the contribution of NLA effect to the excellent OL property of graphene dispersions in heavy-atom solvents.

Highlights

With the increasing utilization of high power laser sources, great challenges have been posed to design efficient optical limiting (OL) materials to protect human eyes and delicate detecting devices from optical damage [1,2,3]
As has been demonstrated in carbon black suspensions (CBS) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), one of the main OL mechanisms of graphene suspensions was attributed to nonlinear scattering (NLS) process, in which solvent microbubbles and/or microplasmas would be formed at a high input light fluence, inducing the decrease of transmittance of the limiter
That both NLS and nonlinear absorption (NLA) effects could attribute to the OL behavior of graphene materials, to investigate the different OL mechanisms of graphene dispersions in different solvents make much sense to design efficient OL materials and devices based on graphene

Summary

Introduction

With the increasing utilization of high power laser sources, great challenges have been posed to design efficient optical limiting (OL) materials to protect human eyes and delicate detecting devices from optical damage [1,2,3]. As has been demonstrated in CBS and CNTs, one of the main OL mechanisms of graphene suspensions was attributed to NLS process, in which solvent microbubbles and/or microplasmas would be formed at a high input light fluence, inducing the decrease of transmittance of the limiter. Lim and associates demonstrated the giant broadband nonlinear optical absorption effect in graphene dispersed sheets, when they studied the OL response of the materials [14]. Some graphene composites have been reported to be of effective OL properties due to strong NLA effects [15, 16] That both NLS and NLA effects could attribute to the OL behavior of graphene materials, to investigate the different OL mechanisms of graphene dispersions in different solvents make much sense to design efficient OL materials and devices based on graphene

Methods

Results

Conclusion