We present our recnet advances toward the development of high-performance solid-state optical limiting devices using reverse saturable absorption (rSA) dyes doped into optical host materials. Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy was employed to determine both the spectral regions of strong RSA, and the singlet-triplet excited-state dynamics. The optical limiting in the visible spectrum in both metallo-phthalocyanines and metallo-porphyrins is due to a combination of singlet and triplet RSA. Optical limiting performance was studied for RSA dyes in dual tandem limiters (both in solution and solid-state). Our best resutls in the solid-state yielded an attenuation of 400x, and a damage threshold of up to several mJ at f/5 focusing. The optical limiting at f/5 is further enhanced, particualrly in the solid-state, by self-defocusing thermal nonlinearities.
展开▼
