Photophysical Properties of a Nonlinear Dye in PMMA at High Concentration

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe effects of high concentration on the photophysical properties of a nonlinear material have been of interest for some time in our group. It is well known in the literature that for a nonlinear absorbing dye to be the most effective, high concentrations are needed. The problem is that most photophysical studies in solution are done at low concentration. These low concentration studies are important for understanding inherent materials properties but it is also important to understand what happens in a material at high concentration. In addition to this, efforts have been made to study the effects of incorporating a dye into a solid matrix environment to better understand the constraints this environment has to a given material. Preliminary results for a PMMA system reveal the formation of excimers (excited state dimers) with an increase in concentration. Excimers are forming from the triplet excited state of the E1-BTF. A rate constant for this formation is 2.3 x 106 M-1 s-1. While rather slow, at high concentration the excimer is readily formed. This must be considered when making nonlinear absorption measurements since the excimer will certainly contribute to the overall nonlinearity.