Effects of chromophore dissociation on the optical properties of rare-Earth-doped polymers.

The observed dissociation of tetrakis rare-earth chromophores in rare-earth-doped organic polymers is reported, and a time-resolved spectroscopic technique is presented to determine quantitatively the fractional concentrations of different chromophore species in various solvents. Based on this technique, the equilibrium constants of tetrakis rare-earth chromophores in rare-earth-doped polymers are determined. Thus, the equilibrium constants for tetrakis rare-earth compounds of benzoyltrifluoroacetonate (BTF), for example, Sm(BTF)(4)P and Eu(BTF)(4)P in methyl methacrylate monomer, are K = 4.7 ? 0.5 x 10(-4) M and K = 1.2 ? 0.5 x 10(-4) M, respectively. In contrast, the tetrakis rare-earth compounds of hexafluoroacetylacetonate (HFA), for example, Sm(HFA)(4)Net(4) and Eu(HFA)(4)Net(4), are quite stable and show no evidence of dissociation. We further characterize the dissociation of several chromophore systems and discuss the influence such dissociation has on overall optical performance. The results enable determination of optimal doping concentrations as well as preferred rare-earth chromophore preparation and doped polymer fabrication procedures.

Room-temperature green upconversion fluorescence of an Er(3+)-doped laser liquid.

Room-temperature green upconversion fluorescence of an Er(3+)-doped POCl(3)-SnCl(4) solution is achieved when the solution is pumped with an 800-nm GaAs laser diode. The upconversion emission at 550 nm is determined to be the result of a two-step absorption process. Numerical analysis reveals that laser systems that employ this erbium-doped laser liquid should be realizable with threshold pump powers as low as 45 mW.

Origin of negative chi((3)) in squaraines: experimental observation of two-photon states.

Femtosecond pump-probe experiments performed on squaraines demonstrate strong couplings between the first excited state and high-lying two-photon states. The experimental data agree well with our earlier quantum many-electron calculations based on multiple-excited configuration interactions. We show that high-lying twophoton states in squaraines are critically important to understanding the observed third-order optical properties and that two-level models are inadequate even for molecules with negative third-order optical susceptibilities.

Low-dispersion, high-gain femtosecond optical pulse amplifier.

We demonstrate a novel amplifier for femtosecond optical pulses. The output of a colliding-pulse mode-locked laser is amplified to 0.3 microJ per pulse at a repetition rate of 8 kHz by using 1 W of pump power from a copper-vapor laser. Our high-efficiency amplifier focuses the beam for four gain passes through a thin dye stream that uses a Z configuration with matched focusing. Because of low group-velocity dispersion, the output pulses are only slightly broadened, from 63 to 73 fsec, and may be used directly to generate a white-light continuum without pulse compression after amplification.

Research on nonlinear optical materials: an assessment.

The seven papers making up this assessment are based on the Workshop on Nonlinear Optical Materials held in April 1986.