Optical limiting performance of Ga0.85In0.15Se and Ga0.90In0.10Se crystals in near infrared region

Abstract

Abstract Optical limiter materials are essential for protecting people’s health due to its higher penetrating capabilities. In this study, Ga0.85In0.15Se and Ga0.90In0.10Se crystals were synthesized using Bridgemann-Stochbarger method to investigate their optical limiting performance in near infrared region. Linear optical results revealed that although the crystals had approximately the same band gap energy, the Ga0.90In0.10Se crystal had more defects due to its higher thickness. Open aperture Z-scan measurements were conducted with femtosecond pulsed laser at 1200 nm excitation wavelength. The examined crystals’ nonlinear absorption (NA) behavior was shown, with the Ga0.90In0.10Se crystal exhibiting the strongest NA behavior. Considering to their band gap energy and Urbach energies, the main NA mechanism was the two-photon absorption (2PA) and its contribution to NA increased with increase of the input intensity. Among the studied ternary crystals Ga0.90In0.10Se crystal showed high limiting performance with 1.11 mJ/cm2 optical limiting threshold. They are attractive candidates for efficient optical limiting applications at 1200 nm due to their strong NA behavior.