Open AccessThird-order nonlinear optical response and optical limiting of colloidal carbon dots
Author(s) -
Panagiotis Aloukos,
Irène Papagiannouli,
Athanasios B. Bourlinos,
Radek Zbořil,
Stelios Couris
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.22.012013
Subject(s) - materials science , excitation , absorption (acoustics) , carbon fibers , infrared , nonlinear optics , optoelectronics , optics , quantum dot , laser , nonlinear optical , nonlinear system , physics , quantum mechanics , composite number , composite material
In this work, the nonlinear optical response of some organophilic and hydrophilic carbon dots derived from gallate precursors is studied under 4 ns and 35 ps, visible (532 nm) and infrared (1064 nm) laser excitation conditions by the Z-scan technique. The prepared carbon dots were found to exhibit considerable nonlinear optical response in the visible, the organophilic ones exhibiting stronger response in the infrared and, in general, significantly larger response than their hydrophilic counterparts. In all cases, the corresponding nonlinear optical parameters have been determined. In particular, it was found that both carbon dots exhibited important negative nonlinear refractivity, under all excitation conditions tried, corresponding to self-defocusing, while negligible nonlinear absorption was found in the ps regime. Oppositely, both types of carbon dots were found to exhibit sizeable nonlinear absorption under ns excitation, indicating their potential for optical limiting applications. The present results are discussed and compared with other results concerning similar carbon based nanostructures reported in the literature.