Fast Optical Switching Using Oriented Cyanine Dye-Doped Nematic Liquid Crystal

A cyanine dye, 2-[7-（1,3-dihydro-1,3,3-trimethyl-2H-indol-2-ylidene）-1,3,5-heptatrienyl]-1,3,3-trimethyl-3H-indolium iodide （NK-125）, is doped in 4-cyano-4＇-pentylbiphenyl （5 CB）, and the mixture is sandwiched between two pieces of rubbed glass plates. The third-order nonlinear optical properties of the oriented NK-125-SCB layers are measured by the resonant femtosecond degenerate four-wave mixing （DFWM） technique at 760 nm. The third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility of one of the present samples is 5.5×10^-8 esu. The slow DFWM response of the NK-125-SCB layers due to a population grating is accelerated by the increasing laser power because of amplified spontaneous emission （ASE）. On the other hand, we do not observe a similar phenomenon for NK-125- polyethylene glycol （PEG-400）. Oriented NK-125 molecules in nematic liquid crystals must have very high ASE efficiency. Hence the population grating in a DFWM signal disappears within about 4 ps. It is expected that NK-125-SCB can be used as a material for very fast all-optical switching.     

Large Third-Order Optical Nonlinearity and Fast Response of a Squarylium Dye

The third-order optical nonlinearities and responses of a squarylium dye, 2,4-di-3-guaiazulenyl-1,3-dihydroxycyclobutenediylium dihydroxide, in tetrahydrofuran （THF） solution and in polystyrene （PS） coating films are measured by the femtosecond degenerate four-wave mixing technique under resonant conditions. The molecular hyperpolarizability γ of the squarylium dye in the THF solution is determined to be 3.0 × 10^-29 esu at 764 nm, and its electronic component γe is determined to be 1.1 × 10^-29 esu. The third-order nonlinear susceptibility X^（3） of one of the present PS coating films containing the squarylium dye is as high as 3.1 × 10^-8 esu at 80Ohm, and its electronic component Xe^（3） is 1.3 × 10^-8 esu.     

Resonant Third-Order Optical Nonlinearities of Poly（methyl methacrylate） Films Containing J-Like Aggregates of a Thiadicarbocyanine Dye

The third-order optical nonlinearities and responses of poly（methyl methacrylate） （PMMA） coating films containing J-like aggregates of a thiadicarbocyanine dye, 3,3＇-diethyl-2,2＇-thiadicarbocyanine iodide （DTDC1）, are measured by degenerate four-wave mixing （DFWM） technique under resonant conditions. The temporal profiles of the DFWM signal of PMMA coating films containing J-like aggregates of DTDC1 are found to consist of three components： i.e., the coherent instantaneous nonlinear response （electronic response） and the two slow responses uqth decay time constants of about 0.8ps and about 7.0ps. The electronic component of the effective third-order nonlinear susceptibility, χc^（3）, of one of the present films is as high as about 2.1×10^-8 esu, and the figure of merit of third-order nonlinearity F （F=χ^（3）/α） is evaluated to be about 1.9 ×10^-13 esu cm at 850nm.