Physical and optical properties of phthalocyanine doped inorganic glasses

Physical and optical properties of various free base and metallic phthalocyanine (Pc) doped glass matrix are reported for the first time. Absorption spectral measurements of H2Pc, MnPc, NiPc, CoPc, CuPc, MoOPc, ZnPc and FePc doped borate glass matrix have been made in the 200–1100 nm region and the spectra obtained are analyzed in the 2.1–6.2 eV region to obtain the optical band gap (Eg) and the width of the band tail (Et). Other important optical and physical parameters viz. refractive index (n), molar extinction coefficient ("), density (½), glass transition temperature (Tg), molecular concentration (N ), polaron radius (rp), intermolecular separation (R), molar refractivity (Rm) are also reported

Physical and optical properties of phthalocyanine doped inorganic glasses

Physical and optical properties of various free base and metallic phthalocyanine (Pc) doped glass matrix are reported for the first time. Absorption spectral measurements of H2Pc, MnPc, NiPc, CoPc, CuPc, MoOPc, ZnPc and FePc doped borate glass matrix have been made in the 200–1100 nm region and the spectra obtained are analyzed in the 2.1–6.2 eV region to obtain the optical band gap (Eg) and the width of the band tail (Et). Other important optical and physical parameters viz. refractive index (n), molar extinction coefficient ("), density (½), glass transition temperature (Tg), molecular concentration (N ), polaron radius (rp), intermolecular separation (R), molar refractivity (Rm) are also reported.

Physical and optical properties of phthalocyanine doped inorganic glasses

Physical and optical properties of various free base and metallic phthalocyanine (Pc) doped glass matrix are reported for the first time. Absorption spectral measurements of H2Pc, MnPc, NiPc, CoPc, CuPc, MoOPc, ZnPc and FePc doped borate glass matrix have been made in the 200–1100 nm region and the spectra obtained are analyzed in the 2.1–6.2 eV region to obtain the optical band gap (Eg) and the width of the band tail (Et). Other important optical and physical parameters viz. refractive index (n), molar extinction coefficient ("), density (½), glass transition temperature (Tg), molecular concentration (N ), polaron radius (rp), intermolecular separation (R), molar refractivity (Rm) are also reported.

Elastic constant measurements of super ionic LiKSO4:Na single crystals

Elastic properties of sodium doped Lithium potassium sulphate, LiK0.9Na0.1SO4, crystal has been studied by ultrasonic Pulse Echo Overlap [PEO] technique and are reported for the first time. The controversy regarding the type of crystal found while growth is performed at 35 °C with equimolar fraction of Li2SO4H2O, K2SO4 and Na2SO4 has been resolved by studying the elastic properties. The importance of this crystal is that it exhibits pyroelectric, ferroelectric and electro optic properties. It is simultaneously ferroelastic and superionic. The elastic properties of LiK0.9Na0.1SO4 crystal are well studied by measuring ultrasonic velocity in the crystal in certain specified crystallographic directions and evaluating the elastic stiffness constants, compliance constants and Poisson’s ratios. The anisotropy in the elastic properties of the crystal are well explained by the pictorial representation of the surface plots of phase velocity, slowness and linear compressibility in a-b and a-c planes.

Ultrasonic measurement of the elastic properties of benzoyl glycine single crystals

Certain organic crystals are found to possess high non- linear optical coefficients,often one to two orders of magnitude higher than those of the well known inorganic non-linear optical materials.Benzoyl glycine is one such crystal whose optical second-harmonic generation efficiency is much higher than that of potassium dihydrogen phosphate. Single crystals of benzoyl glycine are grown by solvent evaporation technique using N,N-dimethyl formamide as the solvent.All the nine second-order elastic stiffness constants of this orthorhombic crystal are determined from ultrasonic wave velocity measurements employing the pulse echo overlap technique.The anisotropy of elastic wave propagation in this crystal is demonstrated by plotting the phase velocity, slowness,Young's modulus and linear compressibility surfaces along symmetry planes.The volume compressibility, bulk modulus and relevant Poisson's ratios are also determined. Variation of the diagonal elastic stiffness constants with temperature over a limited range are measured and reported.

Fabrication and characterisation of polymer optical fibers for smart sensing and optical amplification

The thesis presented the fabrication and characterisation of polymer optical fibers in their applications as optical amplifier and smart sensors.Optical polymers such as PMMA are found to be a very good host material due to their ability to incorporate very high concentration of optical gain media like fluorescent dyes and rare earth compounds. High power and high gain optical amplification in organic dye-doped polymer optical fibers is possible due to extremely large emission cross sections of oyes. Dye doped (Rhodamine 6G) optical fibers were fabricated by using indigenously developed polymer optical fiber drawing tower. Loss characterization of drawn dye doped fibers was carried out using side illumination technique. The advantage of the above technique is that it is a nondestructive method and can also be used for studying the uniformity in fiber diameter and doping. Sensitivity of the undoped polymer fibers to temperature and microbending were also studied in its application in smart sensors.Optical amplification studies using the dye doped polymer optical fibers were carried out and found that an amplification of l8dB could be achieved using a very short fiber of length lOcm. Studies were carried out in fibers with different dye concentrations and diameter and it was observed that gain stability was achieved at relatively high dye concentrations irrespective of the fiber diameter.Due to their large diameter, large numerical aperture, flexibility and geometrical versatility of polymer optical fibers it has a wide range of applications in the field of optical sensing. Just as in the case of conventional silica based fiber optic sensors, sensing techniques like evanescent wave, grating and other intensity modulation schemes can also be efficiently utilized in the case of POF based sensors. Since polymer optical fibers have very low Young's modulus when compared to glass fibers, it can be utilized for sensing mechanical stress and strain efficiently in comparison with its counterpart. Fiber optic sensors have proved themselves as efficient and reliable devices to sense various parameters like aging, crack formation, weathering in civil structures. A similar type of study was carried out to find the setting characteristics of cement paste used for constructing civil structures. It was found that the measurements made by using fiber optic sensors are far more superior than that carried out by conventional methods. More over,POF based sensors were found to have more sensitivity as well.

Dynamics of laser produced silver plasma under film deposition conditions studied using optical emission spectroscopy

Laser produced plasma from silver is generated using a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. Optical emission spectroscopy is used to carry out time of flight (TOF) analysis of atomic particles. An anomalous double peak profile in the TOF distribution is observed at low pressure. A collection of slower species emerge at reduced pressure below 4 X lO-3 mbar and this species has a greater velocity spread. At high pressure the plasma expansion follows the shockwave model with cylindrical symmetry whereas at reduced pressure it shows unsteady adiabatic expansion (UAE). During UAE the species show a parabolic increases in the expansion time with radial distance whereas during shock wave expansion the exponent is less than one. The angular distribution of the ablated species in the plume is obtained from the measurement of optical density of thin films deposited on to glass substrates kept perpendicular to the plume. There is a sharp variation in the film thickness away from the film centre due to asymmetries in the plume.

Thermal diffusivity measurements in organic liquids using transient thermal lens calorimetry

Thermal diffusivity measurements are carried out in certain organic liquids using the pulsed dual beam thermal lens technique. The 532 nm pulses from a frequency doubled Q-switched Nd:YAG laser are used as the heating source and an intensity stabilized He-Ne laser serves as the probe beam. Experimental determination of the characteristic time constant of the transient thermal lens signal is verified theoretically. Measured thermal diffusivity values are in excellent agreement with literature values.

Experimental investigation of optical limiting and thermal lensing in toluene solutions of C70

Optical limiting and thermal lensing studies are carried out in C70–toluene solutions. The measurements are performed using 9-ns pulses generated from a frequencydoubled Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm. Optical limiting studies in fullerene molecules lead to the conclusion that reverse saturable absorption is the major mechanism for limiting. Analysis of thermal lensing measurements showed a quadratic dependence of thermal lens signal on incident laser energy, which also supports the view that optical limiting in C70 arises due to sequential two-photon absorption via excited triplet state (reverse saturable absorption).

Excitation wavelength dependence of energy transfer in dye mixture doped polymer optical fibre preforms

Dependence of energy transfer parameters on excitation wavelength has been investigated in poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) optical fibre preforms doped with C 540:Rh B dye mixture by studying the fluorescence intensity and the lifetime variations. A fluorescence spectrophotometer was used to record the excitation spectra of the samples for the emission wavelengths 495 and 580 nm. The fluorescence emission from the polymer rods was studied at four specific excitation wavelengths viz; 445, 465, 488 and 532 nm. The fluorescence lifetime of the donor molecule was experimentally measured in polymer matrix by time correlated single photon counting technique. The energy transfer rate constants and transfer efficiencies were calculated and their dependence on the acceptor concentration was analysed for three excitation wavelengths. It was found that any change in the excitation wavelength leads to significant variations in the quenching characteristics, which in turn affect the calculated energy transfer parameters.

Photoacoustic signal saturation and optical limiting in C70-toluene solution

Pulsed photoacoustic studies in solutions of C70 in toluene are made using the 532-nm radiation from a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser. It is found that contrary to expectation, there is no photoacoustic (PA) signal enhancement in the power-limiting range of laser fluences. Instead, the PA signal tends to saturate during optical power-limiting phenomenon. This could be due to the enhanced optical absorption from the photoexcited state and hence the depletion of the ground-state population. PA measurements also ruled out the possibility of multiphoton absorption in the C70 solution. We demonstrate that the nonlinear absorption leading to optical limiting is mainly due to reverse saturable absorption.

Optical limiting and thermal lensing studies in C60

Optical limiting and thermo-optic properties of C60 in toluene are studied using 532 nm, 9 ns pulses from a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser. Optical limiting studies in these fullerene molecules lead to the conclusion that reverse saturable absorption is the major mechanism for limiting properties in these molecules. Thermal lensing measurements are also performed in fullerene solutions. The quadratic dependence of thermal lens signal on incident energy confirms that enhanced optical absorption by the sample via excited triplet state absorption may play a leading role in the limiting property.

Microbent optical fibers as evanescent wave sensors

Microbent optical fibers are potential candidates for evanescent wave sensing. We investigate the behavior of a permanently microbent fiber optic sensor when it is immersed in an absorbing medium. Two distinct detection schemes, namely, bright-field and dark-field detection configuration, are employed for the measurements. The optical power propagating through the sensor is found to vary in a logarithmic fashion with the concentration of the absorbing species in the surrounding medium. We observe that the sensitivity of the setup is dependent on the bending amplitude and length of the microbend region for the bright-field detection scheme, while it is relatively independent of both for the dark-field detection configuration. This feature can be exploited in compact sensor designs where reduction of the sensing region length is possible without sacrificing sensitivity.

A Study of Photoacoustic Effects and Optical Limiting in the Solution of C60 in Toluene

Pulsed photoacoustic studies in solution of C60 in toluene have been made using the 532 nm radiation from a frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser. Though C60 is found to exhibit the phenomenon of optical limiting, the results on photoacoustic measurements do not give any indication of multiphoton transitions as suggested in some of the earlier works. Results of photoacoustic measurements show that excited state absorption is the dominant process responsible for optical limiting while phenomena like nonlinear scattering may contribute to a lesser extent.

Nanosecond optical limiting response of sandwich-type neodymium dyphthalocyanine in a co-polymer host

The nanosecond optical limiting characteristics of sandwich-type neodymium diphthalocyanine in a co-polymer matrix of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and methyl-2-cyanoacrylate have been studied for the first time. The measurements were performed using 9 ns laser pulses generated from a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm wavelength. The optical limiting performance of neodymium diphthalocyanine in co-polymer host was studied at different linear transmission. Laser damage threshold was also measured for the doped and undoped co-polymer samples. The optical limiting response is attributed to reverse saturable absorption which is due to excited-state absorption.