We describe a series of experiments on solutions of the inorganic metal cluster molecules Mo₂Ag₄S₈(PPh₃)₄ and compare them with data on a suspension of carbon particles in liquid (ink). The optical limiting behavior is measured using both single picosecond 532 nm pulses and nanosecond long trains of these picosecond pulses. Both materials show reduced transmittance for increasing fluence (energy per unit area). We also perform picosecond time-resolved pump-probe measurements. We find that the observed pump-probe data is nearly identical for the metal cluster solution and the carbon particle suspension (CBS), and we conclude that the nonlinear mechanisms are the same for the two materials. Our previous studies have shown that the nonlinear losses are due to scattering and absorption by microplasmas formed after thermionic emission from heated particles of carbon or inorganic clusters.

Date Published: 7 October 1996
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 2853, Nonlinear Optical Liquids, (7 October 1996); doi: 10.1117/12.253469

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2853:
Nonlinear Optical Liquids
Christopher M. Lawson, Editor(s)