3RD-ORDER OPTICAL NONLINEARITY STUDIES OF P-HEPTAPHENYL DERIVATIVES-DOPED SOL-GEL PROCESSED COMPOSITE GLASS AND THF SOLUTION BY DEGENERATE 4-WAVE-MIXING AND OPTICAL KERR GATE MEASUREMENTS

We have investigated the nonlinear optical performance of new UV photo stable dyes, didecyl and didecyloxy substituted para-polyphenyl heptam ers (DDPPH and DDOPPH hereafter, respectively) using the techniques of degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) and optical Ken: gate (OKG). The s tudies were performed on the dyes dissolved in THF solution and doped in sol-gel processed composite-glass, The magnitudes and the signs of the real and the imaginary components of the complex third-order optic al susceptibilities were determined by the heterodyned OKG method and compared to the values obtained from concentration dependent homodyne Kerr gate and DFWM measurements. The observed effective second hyperpo larizability gamma values are dependent on the optical intensity and t he pulse width of the pumping source beam. Doping of the dyes in compo site-glass allows to increase the interaction length providing the pro spect of using them as building blocks for photonic devices.