Nonlinear optical properties of natural laccaic acid dye studied using Z-scan technique

We have investigated the nonlinear optical properties, including the optical limiting behaviour for five different concentrations of laccaic acid dye in solution and a thin film obtained through doping in poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMNIA) polymer. The experiments were performed by using single beam Z-scan technique at 532 nm with 10 ns, 10 Hz Nd:YAG laser pulses excitation. From the open-aperture Z-scan data, we derived that the laccaic dye samples exhibit strong two photon absorption (2PA). The nonlinear refractive index was determined through the closed aperture Z-scan data. The estimated absorption coefficient beta(2), nonlinear refractive index n(2) and second order hyperpolarizability gamma were found to be of the order of 10(-10) m/W, 10(-9) esu and 10(-32) esu, respectively. The Z-scan study reveals that the natural laccaic acid dye emerges as a promising material for third order nonlinear optical devices application. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.