Optical limiting with C_60 in polymethyl methacrylate

TLDR

C60 in PMMA was benchmarked against several other chromophores (chloroaluminum phthalocyanine, N‑methylthioacridone, King's complex, and ruthenium King's complex) to assess its optical limiting performance. Optical limiting of C60 in PMMA is achieved via reverse saturable absorption, with a higher threshold than in toluene attributed to nonlinear scattering, and damage thresholds were measured.

Abstract

We demonstrate optical limiting for the C60 fullerene in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) as a solid polymer host. It is shown that the optical-limiting behavior is consistent with excited-state absorption (reverse saturable absorption) as a mechanism. We suggest that a higher threshold for optical limiting compared with that of C60 in toluene is due to nonlinear scattering for the liquid. The performance of C60 in PMMA is compared with that in chloroaluminum phthalocyanine, N-methylthioacridone, King's complex, and ruthenium King's complex in PMMA. Optical damage thresholds are reported.