Low power CW optical limiting properties of bis(2-aminopyridinium)-succinate-succinic acid (2APS) single crystal

The increase in the usage of low power CW lasers in various applications needs for the design of optical limiters with low thresholds. The optical limiting properties and nonlinear refractive index (n(2) = -2.4189 x 10(-8) cm(2)/W) of transparent organic crystal bis(2-aminopyridinium)-succinate-succinic acid (2APS) single crystal using continuous wave He-Ne laser excitation following Z-scan method have been evaluated. The sample exhibited negative (defocusing) nonlinearity. This thermally induced defocusing nature of 2APS crystal can be used to design the low power optical limiters. As the origin for this nonlinearity is thermal, a complete thermal transport properties such as thermal diffusivity (alpha(s) = 5.97 +/- 0.03 x 10(-3) cm(2)/s), thermal effusivity (e(s) = 1.94 +/- 0.02 x 10(-2) J/cm(2)-K-s(1/2)), thermal conductivity (k(s) = (4.66 +/- 0.04) x 10(-3) W/cm-K)) and specific heat capacity (C-ps = (5.61 +/- 0.05) x 10(-1) J/g-K) of the material were studied following the photopyro electric (PPE) technique. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.