BROAD-BAND THERMAL OPTICAL LIMITER

The limiting behavior of nigrosin dye dissolved in carbon disulfide wa s investigated in an f/5 defocusing geometry using 6 ns duration 532 n m laser excitation. Nigrosin dye is a broadband visible light absorber that is used here in conjunction with the large thermal nonlinearity of carbon disulfide solvent to defocus intense incident visible light. A limiting threshold energy of 40 nJ, corresponding to a fluence of o nly 100 mJ/cm2 in the solution, was observed with device absorption ad justed to 53%.