Ability of dynamic holography in self-assembled hybrid nanostructured silica films for all-optical switching and multiplexing

Abstract

The sol-gel method has been employed in the fabrication of easily processable mesostructured films consisting of a nonionic surfactant and silica as the inorganic component. The ability of the occluded Pluronic P123 mesostructures to solubilize guest molecules made these films ideal host matrices for organic dyes and molecular assemblies, possessing substantial nonlinear susceptibilities. These films were explored for use as the photonic layer in all-optical time-to-space converters and proved successful at increasing the optical response of the intercalated dyes to a point that would make these composite films applicable for use as the photonic layer. Recording of a dynamical grating in a single-pulse regime has been obtained. Since the dynamical grating exhibits the fast relaxation time (up to 10 ns), the nonlinear mechanism represents an electronic excitation of the photosensitive molecules. As far as the dye molecules are distributed in nanoporous silica, a model of ‘gas of molecular dye’ may be rightly used in order to consider nonlinear optical properties in the nanostructured hybrid films. We suppose that further improvement of the nonlinear optical nanomaterials may follow on the way to embed additional inclusions, which will not promote the heat accumulation in the host matrix and will lead to effective dissipation of the heat energy.PACS: 78.20.-e; 42.70 -а; 42.79

Optical Modulation of the Diffraction Efficiency in an Indoline Azobenzene/Amorphous Polycarbonate Film

“…Optical filters based on diffraction gratings have a large range of applications that include optical storage [ 1 , 2 ], optical communication [ 3 – 5 ], strain and chemical sensing [ 6 – 9 ], and spectroscopy [ 10 – 12 ]. They have been made and researched using different methods and materials.…”

“…Optical filters have also been produced using liquid crystals [ 14 – 16 ], porous silicon [ 9 , 12 ], anodic aluminina [ 17 ], polymers [ 4 , 18 ], photochromic films [ 19 , 20 ], nonlinear optical chromophore thin films [ 21 ], and RbCdF 3 :Mn 2+ single crystals [ 22 ]. Optically switchable diffraction gratings would be particularly useful for all-optical switching and multiplexing [ 5 ] and could be used, for example, in add/drop [ 4 ] modules in optical communication systems that are needed for dense wavelength division multiplexing.…”

Insights into the Mechanism of Enhanced Rhodamine 6G Dimer Fluorescence in Mesoscopic Pluronic-Silica Matrixes

“…6,7 Excellent optical properties along with the ultrafast optical responses of the intercalated dye/acceptor complexes, can make these composite films suitable for use as photonic layers in all-optical ultrafast switching devices. 8 Fixing the organic guests into the matrix in a way that would minimize the self-assembly aggregation process between individual dye molecules is the key problem in application of such hybrid films as photonic materials. Recent development in sol−gel procedure has opened new opportunities in use of mesostructured and mesoporous films as hosts for organic dyes.…”

“…Considering material-specific properties, the mesoscopic materials can be described as continuous and homogeneous substances on a lesser scale than an inherent nanostructure. The synthesis of surfactant-templated mesoporous silica stimulated an explosive technological development of mesoscopic materials: crystals, fibers, and films that have submicrometer thicknesses but macroscopic lengths and widths, and are composed of mesoscopic subunits with sizes of unit cells typical for micelles. , Such films can also be used by constructing, for instance, sensors or mesoscopic waveguides for mirrorless lasing. , Excellent optical properties along with the ultrafast optical responses of the intercalated dye/acceptor complexes, can make these composite films suitable for use as photonic layers in all-optical ultrafast switching devices . Fixing the organic guests into the matrix in a way that would minimize the self-assembly aggregation process between individual dye molecules is the key problem in application of such hybrid films as photonic materials.…”