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Applied Physics Letters

All optical switching based on intensity induced absorption in C60

Fryad Zeki Henari, Karl H. Cazzini, Declan N. Weldon, Werner Josef Blau

Published Jan 29, 1996• 35 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this letter, we demonstrate that the strong reverse saturation which has been observed at high intensity in a C60 solution, is also manifest at a low intensity. The behavior fits well to a rate equation model based on a six level system with known photophysical parameters. Furthermore, we demonstrate that it can be utilized to generate optical switching and bistability.

DOI
10.1063/1.116487

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In this letter, we demonstrate that the strong reverse saturation which has been observed at high intensity in a C60 solution, is also manifest at a low intensity. The behavior fits well to a rate equation model based on a six level system with known photophysical parameters. Furthermore, we demonstrate that it can be utilized to generate optical switching and bistability.
The dynamic processes of reverse saturable absorption (RSA) in a solution of C60 are studied in detail by use of rate equations and the light-propagation equation for a five-energy-level model. The RSA experimental results for C60 in toluene solution with a nanosecond–picosecond Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm are consistent with the theoretical simulations. Effects of sample concentration and thickness on RSA and contributions of the singlet and triplet excited states to RSA for various laser-pulse widths and wavelengths are also analyzed. Finally, an all-optical switch based on excited-state nonlinear absorption and the pump-probe technique is implemented.
We present a novel approach to achieving intrinsic optical bistability and multistability through the interplay between saturable and reverse saturable absorption. Our findings reveal that the stable points on the optical bistability curve align with the switching points of intensity-dependent nonlinear absorption. By analyzing the optical properties of a four-level cascade quantum system, we demonstrate that these switching behaviors can be triggered by applying laser fields to induce nonlinear absorption. Furthermore, we propose a comprehensive model to describe the intensity-dependent nonlinear absorption within this quantum system. Finally, it is shown that the optical bistability switches to the multistability when the detuning of applied fields exceeds the multi-photon resonance condition.
Using computer simulation, the feasibility of absorption optical bistability based on the dependence of the absorption coefficient on an electric field induced by a high-intensity laser pulse acting on a semiconductor and shifting the energy levels of atoms is demonstrated. Unlike the known mechanisms behind absorption optical bistability, here enhanced diffusion of charged particles does not change the rate of switching the system from the lower to upper state. Radiation-semiconductor interaction conditions are found when, after being switched to the upper state, the system remains in it until the laser pulse disappears.
By presenting a theoretical steady-state rate equation analysis, we demonstrate an efficient optical power limiting in a fullerene system, which can be attributed to a reverse saturable absorption mechanism. The limiting behavior, characterized by means of the sample’s transmittance, is explained via the population redistribution among singlet and triplet levels. In addition, the effects of intersystem crossing and reverse intersystem crossing rates on the limiting behavior are investigated. Our numerical results show how these rates alter the optical limiting performance; indeed, the intersystem crossing has a constructive role in decreasing the optical limiting threshold. In addition, a theoretical investigation of the z-scan technique is employed to further characterize the power limiting properties.
The dynamics of all-optical switching in C60 has been theoretically analyzed based on the principle of nonlinear intensity-induced excited-state absorption to achieve high contrast and fast switching. The transmission of a cw probe laser beam at 885 nm corresponding to the peak absorption of the S1 state through C60 in toluene is switched by a pulsed pump laser beam at 532 nm that excites molecules from the ground state. Switching characteristics are shown to be sensitive to the variation of pump pulse width, peak pumping intensity, thickness of the medium, intersystem crossing time between the S1 and T1 states and the absorption cross section of the S1 state at a probe wavelength, and their effect are analyzed in detail. It is shown that the transmission of the probe beam can be completely switched off (100% modulation) by the pump beam at a pump intensity of 100 MW/cm2 and a pulse width 1.5 ns, with switch on and off times of 2.5 and 7.5 ns, respectively. The results are used to design all-optical NOT and the universal NOR and NAND logic gates with multiple pump laser pulses, which are the basic building blocks of computing circuits.