Denis Chateau

Design of efficient monolithic hybrid materials for optical protection

Denis Chateau

Nowadays, the development and the accessibility of laser technology call for new efficient optical limiting devices to protect optical sensors. One efficient way to design such device is to use nonlinear absorption properties of organic or organometallic chromophores [1]. However, current nonlinear optical molecular systems dispersed in liquids are obsolete and the necessity of more robust solid systems is obvious [2-5]. In this perspective, the synthesis of monolithic siloxane-based hybrid materials highly doped by various chromophores was achieved with a new protocol based on a quick gelation reaction [6,7].
Measurements of luminescence and optical power limiting for these hybrid materials showed very efficient behavior in the visible wavelengths for concentrations of platinum acetylides chromophores as high as 400mM. Encouraging results were obtained in the near infrared range for azabodipy chromophores at concentrations around 100mM. Moreover, by tuning the process parameters and the matrix composition in the case of platinum acetylides derivatives, strong differences are observed on the behavior of the triplet state of the chromophores and thus on the final optical properties.
Finally, the addition of various gold nanoparticles and their impact on the chromophores properties is investigated: a strong enhancement in optical limitation is observed, leading to 40% lower limiting threshold in some cases.

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[5]    N. Sanz, A. Ibanez, Y Morel, P.L. Baldeck, Appl. Phys. Lett. 2001, 78, 2569
[6]    D. Chateau, F. Chaput, C. Desroches, S. Parola, 2010, EP 10305377.3-2111 (2010).
[7]    Chateau D., Chaput F., Lopes C., Lindgren M., Brännlund C., Öhgren J., Djourelov N., Nedelec P., Desroches C., Eliasson B., Kindahl  T., Lerouge F., Andraud C., Parola S., ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2012, 4, 2369