Two-photon induced anisotropy in PMMA film doped with Disperse Red 13

In this paper we present optical anisotropy induced by 150-fs laser pulses operating at 775 nm in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films doped with Disperse Red 13 (DR13). Two-photon absorption of DR13 induces reversible birefringence in the sample, a feature associated with the molecular orientation caused by isomerization of the azochromophores. No irreversible anisotropy, associated with photobleaching of the chromophore was observed. The slope of 2 obtained for the induced birefringence as a function of the excitation irradiance corroborates the two-photon nature of the process.