Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Optical Bistability In Dyes

Shaulmi Speiser, Frank L. Chisena

Published Mar 8, 1989• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Optical bistability has been observed in highly concentrated fluorescein dye solution and in thin (~1 μm) doped polymeric films. For fluorescein, at concentrations larger than 10-5 mole/1 dye dimers are formed. The dimer-monomer equilibrium constant is 1051/mole so that most of the dye species are in the dimer form. At 480 nm the dimer absorption cross section is 10-18cm2/molecule, while that for the dye monomer molecule is 7.6x10-17cm2/molecule. Upon laser excitation dimers dissociate to form monomers thus providing a highly nonlinear laser induced absorption. The high nonlinear absorption coefficient can be utilized for optically bistable response of the dye system. Optical bistability was observed by placing dye solutions or dye thin films inside a Fabry-Perot resonator and exciting it with 480 nm dye laser pulses of 10 ns duration. The effect is more pronounced in 10-4; mole/1 fluorescein than in 10-6mole/1 fluorescein in which dimer formation is not that efficient. In disodium fluorescein, eosin and erythrosin dye samples no significant dimer formation is observed even at 10-3 mole/1 dye concentration. The observed bistability in both solution and in thin films can be explained in terms of recent models for optical bistability in nonlinearly absorbing molecular systems.

DOI
10.1117/12.949985

Related papers

Optical bistability in dye molecules

Shammai Speiser, Frank L. Chisena

Optical bistability has been observed in highly concentrated substituted fluorescein dye solution and in thin (∼1 μm) doped polymeric films. For fluorescein, at concentrations larger than 10−5 mol/ℓ dye dimers are formed. The dimer–monomer equilibrium constant is 105 ℓ/mol so that most of the dye species are in the dimer form. At 480 nm the dimer absorption cross section is 10−18 cm2/molecule, while that for the dye monomer molecule is 7.6×10−17 cm2/molecule. Upon laser excitation dimers dissociate to form monomers thus providing a highly nonlinear laser induced absorption. The high nonlinear absorption coefficient can be utilized for optically bistable response of the dye system. Optical bistability was observed by placing dye solutions or dye thin films inside a Fabry–Perot resonator and exciting it with 480 nm dye laser pulses of 10 ns duration. The effect is more pronounced in 10−4 mol/ ℓ fluorescein than in 10−6 mol/ℓ fluorescein in which dimer formation is not that efficient. In disodium fluorescein, eosin Y and erythrosin B no significant dimer formation is observed even at 10−3 mol/ℓ dye concentration. The observed bistability both in solution and in thin films can be explained in terms of recent models for optical bistability in nonlinearly absorbing molecular system.

The Journal of Chemical Physics•Dec 15, 1988•8 citations

Optical Bistability In Dimer-Monomer Dye Systems

Shammai Speiser, Frank L. Chisena

Optical bistability has been observed in highly concentrated fluorescein dye solutions and in thin (-1 pm) doped polymeric films. At concentrations larger than 10-5 mole/k dye dimers are formed. For fluorescein dye, the dimer-monomer equilibrium constant is 10 -5 mole/ℓ so that most of the dye species are in the dimer form. At 480 nm the dimer absorption cross section is 10-18 cm2/molecule, while that for the dye monomer molecule is 7.6 x 10-17 cm2/molecule. Upon laser excitation dimers dissociate to form monomers thus providing a highly nonlinear laser induced absorption. This high nonlinear absorption coefficient can be utilized for optically bistable response of the dye system. Optical bistability was observed by placing dye solutions or dye thin films inside a Fabry-Perot resonator and exciting it with 480 nm dye laser pulses of 10 ns duration. The effect is more pronounced in 10-4 mole/ℓ fluorescein than in 10-6 mole/k fluorescein in which dimer formation is not that efficient.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Feb 4, 1988•1 citation

Absorptive optical bistability in organic media under the influence of transverse effects

Eliška Jurisová, Jarmila Müllerová

The influence of transverse effects on optical bistability in Fabry-Perot cavity filled with saturable absorber was numerically investigated. A simple model of singlet absorption was used on numerically solving the relationships between the input and output light fields. The proposed model corresponds well to organic compounds considered as novel optical materials with third-order optical nonlinearities. The proposed optically bistable systems were demonstrated for two organic dyes of fluorescein and rhodamine 6G dispersed in transparent solid matrices. Their optically bistable behaviour was anticipated considering the homogeneous and Gaussian distribution of light energy in the radial direction. Most notable cases are discussed related to the changes of the Gaussian beam radii, positive feedback conditions in the Fabry-Perot cavity and considering linear and nonlinear absorption parameters of the organic media. The simulation results enabled us to establish numerically thresholds of Fabry-Perot mirror reflectance and Gaussian beam radius for both nonlinear organic materials, above which absorptive optical bistability can occur. The results can be helpful in design of optical switches for all-optical communication networks.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Sep 24, 2010•1 citation

Laser induced optical bistability in MgPc dye

Anil Kumar, Devendra Mohan, Arun Kumar Gupta

In the present work, optical bistability using a Fabry-Perot cavity containing MgPc dye dissolved in toluene of different concentrations have been experimentally investigated by using a single mode Q-switched nanosecond Nd:YAG laser operating at ~532nm.The nonlinear refractive index n2 is numerically estimated from the bistabe loop and found to be in close approximations with the previously reported values.The nature of the bistable loop depicts the reverse saturable absorption (RSA) process in the medium under study.Absorptive type bistability is found to be predominant over dispersive bistability.

Chemical Biology Letters•Jan 4, 2017•0 citations

Optical Bistability In Random Glassy Polymers

A. F. Garito, Jeong Weon Wu

Optical bistability is the quantum optical realization of a first order phase transition far from equilibrium. A resonant nonlinear optical response of it-electron excitations in low dimensional structures provides the nonlinearity essential to the onset of bistability. Saturable absorption studies of glassy polymer films consisting of quasi two-dimensional conjugated disc-like structures of silicon naphthalocyanine demonstrate that on-resonance the system behaves as an optical Bloch system with an intensity dependent refractive index n2 of 1x10-4 cm2/kW in the wavelength range of standard laser diodes. Based on this result, electronic absorptive optical bistability is observed on a nanosecond time scale in a nonlinear Fabry-Perot interferometer employing the saturably absorbing naphthalocyanine film as the nonlinear optical medium.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Jan 15, 1990•7 citations

Resonant nonlinear optical processes in lower-dimensional electronic systems

Jeong Weon Wu

Optical bistability is a quantum optical realization of a first order phase transition far from equilibrium. A nonlinear optical material contained in an optical cavity driven resonantly by an external coherent optical field undergoes a first order phase transition to a new nonequilibrium stationary state of broken symmetry. Resonant and nonresonant nonlinear optical response of $\\pi$-electron excitations in conjugated electronic structure provides the nonlinearity essential to the onset of bistability. Electronic correlation effects in reduced dimensions are responsible for nonresonant nonlinear optical responses. Saturable absorption studies of glassy polymer films consisting of quasi-two dimensional conjugated disc-like structure of silicon naphthalocyanine demonstrate that on-resonance the system behaves as an optical Bloch system with an intensity dependent refractive index of 1 $\\times$ 10$\\sp{-4}$ cm$\\sp2$/kW. Based on the results of these studies, electronic absorptive optical bistability is observed on a nanosecond time scale in a nonlinear Fabry-Perot interferometer employing the saturable absorbing silicon naphthalocyanine film as the nonlinear optical medium.

•Jan 1, 1989•0 citations
Optical bistability has been observed in highly concentrated fluorescein dye solution and in thin (~1 μm) doped polymeric films. For fluorescein, at concentrations larger than 10-5 mole/1 dye dimers are formed. The dimer-monomer equilibrium constant is 1051/mole so that most of the dye species are in the dimer form. At 480 nm the dimer absorption cross section is 10-18cm2/molecule, while that for the dye monomer molecule is 7.6x10-17cm2/molecule. Upon laser excitation dimers dissociate to form monomers thus providing a highly nonlinear laser induced absorption. The high nonlinear absorption coefficient can be utilized for optically bistable response of the dye system. Optical bistability was observed by placing dye solutions or dye thin films inside a Fabry-Perot resonator and exciting it with 480 nm dye laser pulses of 10 ns duration. The effect is more pronounced in 10-4; mole/1 fluorescein than in 10-6mole/1 fluorescein in which dimer formation is not that efficient. In disodium fluorescein, eosin and erythrosin dye samples no significant dimer formation is observed even at 10-3 mole/1 dye concentration. The observed bistability in both solution and in thin films can be explained in terms of recent models for optical bistability in nonlinearly absorbing molecular systems.
Optical bistability has been observed in highly concentrated substituted fluorescein dye solution and in thin (∼1 μm) doped polymeric films. For fluorescein, at concentrations larger than 10−5 mol/ℓ dye dimers are formed. The dimer–monomer equilibrium constant is 105 ℓ/mol so that most of the dye species are in the dimer form. At 480 nm the dimer absorption cross section is 10−18 cm2/molecule, while that for the dye monomer molecule is 7.6×10−17 cm2/molecule. Upon laser excitation dimers dissociate to form monomers thus providing a highly nonlinear laser induced absorption. The high nonlinear absorption coefficient can be utilized for optically bistable response of the dye system. Optical bistability was observed by placing dye solutions or dye thin films inside a Fabry–Perot resonator and exciting it with 480 nm dye laser pulses of 10 ns duration. The effect is more pronounced in 10−4 mol/ ℓ fluorescein than in 10−6 mol/ℓ fluorescein in which dimer formation is not that efficient. In disodium fluorescein, eosin Y and erythrosin B no significant dimer formation is observed even at 10−3 mol/ℓ dye concentration. The observed bistability both in solution and in thin films can be explained in terms of recent models for optical bistability in nonlinearly absorbing molecular system.
Optical bistability has been observed in highly concentrated fluorescein dye solutions and in thin (-1 pm) doped polymeric films. At concentrations larger than 10-5 mole/k dye dimers are formed. For fluorescein dye, the dimer-monomer equilibrium constant is 10 -5 mole/ℓ so that most of the dye species are in the dimer form. At 480 nm the dimer absorption cross section is 10-18 cm2/molecule, while that for the dye monomer molecule is 7.6 x 10-17 cm2/molecule. Upon laser excitation dimers dissociate to form monomers thus providing a highly nonlinear laser induced absorption. This high nonlinear absorption coefficient can be utilized for optically bistable response of the dye system. Optical bistability was observed by placing dye solutions or dye thin films inside a Fabry-Perot resonator and exciting it with 480 nm dye laser pulses of 10 ns duration. The effect is more pronounced in 10-4 mole/ℓ fluorescein than in 10-6 mole/k fluorescein in which dimer formation is not that efficient.
The influence of transverse effects on optical bistability in Fabry-Perot cavity filled with saturable absorber was numerically investigated. A simple model of singlet absorption was used on numerically solving the relationships between the input and output light fields. The proposed model corresponds well to organic compounds considered as novel optical materials with third-order optical nonlinearities. The proposed optically bistable systems were demonstrated for two organic dyes of fluorescein and rhodamine 6G dispersed in transparent solid matrices. Their optically bistable behaviour was anticipated considering the homogeneous and Gaussian distribution of light energy in the radial direction. Most notable cases are discussed related to the changes of the Gaussian beam radii, positive feedback conditions in the Fabry-Perot cavity and considering linear and nonlinear absorption parameters of the organic media. The simulation results enabled us to establish numerically thresholds of Fabry-Perot mirror reflectance and Gaussian beam radius for both nonlinear organic materials, above which absorptive optical bistability can occur. The results can be helpful in design of optical switches for all-optical communication networks.
In the present work, optical bistability using a Fabry-Perot cavity containing MgPc dye dissolved in toluene of different concentrations have been experimentally investigated by using a single mode Q-switched nanosecond Nd:YAG laser operating at ~532nm.The nonlinear refractive index n2 is numerically estimated from the bistabe loop and found to be in close approximations with the previously reported values.The nature of the bistable loop depicts the reverse saturable absorption (RSA) process in the medium under study.Absorptive type bistability is found to be predominant over dispersive bistability.
Optical bistability is the quantum optical realization of a first order phase transition far from equilibrium. A resonant nonlinear optical response of it-electron excitations in low dimensional structures provides the nonlinearity essential to the onset of bistability. Saturable absorption studies of glassy polymer films consisting of quasi two-dimensional conjugated disc-like structures of silicon naphthalocyanine demonstrate that on-resonance the system behaves as an optical Bloch system with an intensity dependent refractive index n2 of 1x10-4 cm2/kW in the wavelength range of standard laser diodes. Based on this result, electronic absorptive optical bistability is observed on a nanosecond time scale in a nonlinear Fabry-Perot interferometer employing the saturably absorbing naphthalocyanine film as the nonlinear optical medium.
Optical bistability is a quantum optical realization of a first order phase transition far from equilibrium. A nonlinear optical material contained in an optical cavity driven resonantly by an external coherent optical field undergoes a first order phase transition to a new nonequilibrium stationary state of broken symmetry. Resonant and nonresonant nonlinear optical response of pi\\pipi-electron excitations in conjugated electronic structure provides the nonlinearity essential to the onset of bistability. Electronic correlation effects in reduced dimensions are responsible for nonresonant nonlinear optical responses. Saturable absorption studies of glassy polymer films consisting of quasi-two dimensional conjugated disc-like structure of silicon naphthalocyanine demonstrate that on-resonance the system behaves as an optical Bloch system with an intensity dependent refractive index of 1 times\\timestimes 10sp−4\\sp{-4}sp−4 cmsp2\\sp2sp2/kW. Based on the results of these studies, electronic absorptive optical bistability is observed on a nanosecond time scale in a nonlinear Fabry-Perot interferometer employing the saturable absorbing silicon naphthalocyanine film as the nonlinear optical medium.