Synthesis, characterization, third-order non-linear optical properties and DFT studies of novel SUBO bridged ball-type metallophthalocyanines.

Novel 4,4'-(((2,4,8,10-tetraoxaspiro[5.5]undecane-3,9-diyl)bis(2-methylpropane-2,1-diyl))bis(oxy)) (SUBO) bridged ball-type metallophthalocyanines were synthesized starting from 4,4'-(((2,4,8,10-tetraoxaspiro[5.5]undecane-3,9-diyl)bis(2-methylpropane-2,1-diyl))bis(oxy))diphthalonitrile with convenient metal salts in 2-N,N-dimethylaminoethanol. A new bisphthalonitrile compound was obtained from 2,2'-(2,4,8,10-tetraoxaspiro[5.5]undecane-3,9-diyl)bis(2-methylpropan-1-ol) and 4-nitrophthalonitrile in acetonitrile at reflux temperature in the presence of potassium carbonate as a catalyst. The structural characterization of the compounds was performed by elemental analysis, and infrared, ultraviolet-visible and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectroscopic methods. Nonlinear absorptions of the phthalocyanine complexes were measured using the Z-scan technique with 7 ns pulse duration at a 532 nm wavelength. It is obvious that ball-type copperphthalocyanine has a high nonlinear absorption coefficient and imaginary component of the third-order susceptibility compared to other complexes. Therefore, ball-type copperphthalocyanine can be regarded as a very good candidate for optical limiting applications. Density functional theory was used for geometry optimizations and time-dependent density functional theory calculations of electronic transitions in order to compare with the experimental results. Molecular orbital and nonlinear optical analyses were also performed with density functional theory at the CAM-B3LYP/6-31G(d,p)/LANL2DZ level. The nonlinear optical analyses show that ball-type copperphthalocyanine has significantly better nonlinear optical properties in comparison to a common reference compound, urea.

Four-core optical fiber as a calorimetric gauge.

A four-core optical fiber is demonstrated as a calorimetric gauge for investigation of one-dimensional heat transfer measurements. Transient heat pulses from a Nd:YAG laser of 600 ms duration with a repetition rate of the order of 10 s are delivered onto the cleaved distal end face of the four-core fiber, aiming at one of the single cores only, which cause an optical path length difference between four guiding cores due to the temperature-induced change in the index of refraction and physical length of the targeted fiber core of concern. This results in a shift in the fringe pattern, which is operated in the reflection scheme. A phase shift of 0.43±0.015 rad is measured with a CMOS camera for 40 mW pulses. The thermal heat diffusion length in the selected fiber core is determined to be 2.8 mm, which contains 10.9±0.38 kJ/m2s heat, causing a temperature rise of 1.43±0.05 K.

Phase stepping optical profilometry using fiber optic Lloyd's mirrors.

A three-step phase stepping profilometry based on a fiber optic Lloyd's mirror assembly is employed in the optical profilometry for the first time to measure the shapes of 3D objects. Required π/2 phase shifts for interference fringe pattern are obtained by mechanically sliding the Lloyd assembly via an ordinary micrometer stage. The experimental setup is simple and low cost to construct, and is insensitive to the ambient temperature fluctuations and environmental vibrations that cause unwanted effects on the projected fringe pattern. Consecutive interferograms are captured by a CCD camera and are processed with an algorithm to accomplish 3D topographies.

Fourier transform optical profilometry using fiber optic Lloyd's mirrors.

A fiber optic Lloyd's mirror assembly is used to obtain various optical interference patterns for the detection of 3D rigid body shapes. Two types of fiber optic Lloyd's systems are used in this work. The first consists of a single-mode optical fiber and a highly reflecting flat mirror to produce bright and dark strips. The second is constructed by locating a single-mode optical fiber in a v-groove, which is formed by two orthogonal flat mirrors to allow the generation of square-type interference patterns for the desired applications. The structured light patterns formed by these two fiber Lloyd's techniques are projected onto 3D objects. Fringe patterns are deformed due to the object's surface topography, which are captured by a digital CCD camera and processed with a Fourier transform technique to accomplish 3D surface topography of the object. It is demonstrated that the fiber-optic Lloyd's technique proposed in this work is more compact, more stable, and easier to configure than other existing surface profilometry systems, since it does not include any high-cost optical tools such as aligners, couplers, or 3D stages. The fringe patterns are observed to be more robust against environmental disturbances such as ambient temperature and vibrations.