Nonlinear Optical Studies of DNA Doped Rhodamine 6G-PVA Films Using Picosecond Pulses

Abstract

We present our results from the measurements of third-order optical nonlinearity in DNA doped Rhodamine 6G/PVA films achieved through Z-scan measurements using ~2 picosecond (ps) pulses at a wavelength of 800 nm. The films demonstrated negative nonlinear refractive index (n 2 ) with magnitudes of (0.065 -2.89) × 10 -14 cm 2 /W with varying concentration of DNA. Open aperture data demonstrated strong two-photon absorption with a magnitude of ~1.6 cm/GW for films doped with 2 wt% of DNA. The recovery time of excited state population, retrieved from the degenerate pump-probe experimental data, was <4 ps. These data suggests that DNA is promising material for applications such as optical switching.

Linear and nonlinear optical properties of transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) thin solid films

“…We experimentally investigated the third-order nonlinear optical properties of tRNA TSFs using the Z-scan method. 30,53 We showed the experiment schematic in (Fig. 7).…”