Article Type: Research Article Article Citation: Imad Al - Deen
Hussein Ali Al - Saidi, Hussein Falih Hussein, and Numan Sleem Hashim. (2021). NONLINEAR
OPTICAL PROPERTIES AND OPTICAL POWER LIMITING OF POLY (3HT- Co - Th) - PMMA
POLYMER BLEND FILMS. International Journal of Engineering Science Technologies,
5(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.29121/IJOEST.v5.i1.2021.142 Received Date: 10 December 2020 Accepted Date: 08 January 2021 Keywords: Copolymer Polymer Blend
Films Nonlinear Optical
Properties Optical Power
Limiting Z - Scan
Technique Poly (3 - Hexylthiophene - Co - Thiophene) copolymer was prepared using the addition polymerization method and poly (3HT- Co - Th) – PMMA polymer blend films were prepared using the casting method. The nonlinear optical properties and the behavior of the optical power limiting of the prepared films were studied using the z - scan technique for different weight ratios of the copolymer poly (3HT- Co - Th). In the present work, a continuous wave (CW) diode - pumped solid - state laser (DPSSL) of wavelengths 532 nm was used for the irradiation of the prepared film samples. The nonlinear optical parameters such as, the nonlinear refractive index (n2), the nonlinear absorption coefficient (β), and the third - order nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ (3)) of the polymer blend poly (3HT- Co - Th) - PMMA films were determined for different weight ratios of the copolymer poly (3HT- Co - Th). It is observed that the polymer blend poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA films exhibit saturable absorption (SA) and self - defocusing effects, and this gives an indication that both, the nonlinear refractive index (n2) and the nonlinear absorption coefficient (β), have negative values. The obtained results indicate that the prepared polymer blend poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA films are promising materials and can be considered as suitable materials for different optical and electronic applications.
1. INTRODUCTIONNonlinear
optical (NLO) properties of different optical materials have received much
attention because of their several applications such as, optical power
limiting, optical switching, light - emitting diodes, solar
cells, optical sensors, and in photonic and optoelectronic devices [1 - 17]. Thiophone is one
of these important materials. It is a conjugate polymer and has attractive properties for many optical and electronic applications, such as: Solubility in the organic solvents, flexibility
in the preparation, and
absorbance in the ultraviolet and visible spectral regions, high electrical
conductivity, good environmental stability, and high optical damage thresholds [8, 18]. Thiophene and 3 -
Hexylthiophene were used to prepared the copolymer poly
(3HT- Co - Th). In order to obtain a new polymer
suitable for the optical and optoelectronic applications, the prepared
copolymer is adding to the poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) polymer. Such
prepared polymer blend shows high absorption in the range of the visible and
the ultraviolet of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is observed that the
addition of the prepared copolymer to the PMMA polymer causes significant
modification in the optical properties of the PMMA polymer. It is found, in the
present study, that the optical properties of the prepared polymer blend poly (3HT-
Co - Th) - PMMA films are depended on the weight ratio of the added copolymer poly
(3HT - Co - Th) to the PMMA polymer and their properties are changed with
changing this weight ratio. Optical limiting (OPL) behavior is an important nonlinear effect can be
used for the optical limiter device to protect the human eyes and the other
sensitive optical devices (such as, optical switches and optical sensors), from
the optical damages due to the intense laser beams, that may be caused those
damages. The optical limiter is working as an attenuator for the incident
optical radiation (such as the laser beam radiation) on these devices. In the nonlinear optical materials,
the output power (or the intensity) of the laser beam tends to increase with
increasing the input power (or the intensity) of the laser beam until it reaches a value
called the threshold optical power (Pth), then the output power
starts to stabilize at a constant value as the input power continuing to
increase [19 - 24].
There are several techniques for measuring the nonlinear optical
properties of the optical materials. The z - scan technique is one of these techniques, which is
commonly used for the measurements of the nonlinear optical properties of the optical materials due to its
advantages such as, the simplicity of the experimental setup and the optical
measurements, as well as it is easily to interpret the results that obtained
from the optical measurements. Moreover, this technique is sensitive to most the
nonlinear optical effects such as, self - focusing, self - defocusing,
nonlinear refraction, nonlinear saturable absorption (SA), and optical limiting
[25, 29]. This technique can be used to measure the
nonlinear refractive index (n2), the nonlinear absorption
coefficient (β), and the third - order of the nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ (3)) of many optical materials. There are two
types of the z - scan technique. The first type is called, close - aperture z -
scan, is used to scan the beam of the laser along the z - axis of the closed
(partially open) aperture and measure the nonlinear refractive index (n2).
While the second type is called, the open - aperture z - scan (the aperture is
completely open or it is removed from the z - scan
system) and is used to measure the nonlinear absorption coefficient (β). In addition to being used to measure the real and imaginary parts of the third - order nonlinear optical
susceptibility (χ (3)), this technique is
also used to study the properties of the optical power limiting.
2.
EXPERIMENTAL
METHODS AND MEASUREMENTS
The copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th) was
prepared by using the addition polymerization method. The monomers 3HT and Th were purchased from the Aman International Industrial Company,
India. Two different weight ratios of the 3HT and TH monomers were mixed together. The poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film samples were
prepared for different weight ratios by using the casting method. 4 gm of poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) polymer was dissolved in 10 ml of
Chloroform and the mixture was stirred for 3 hours until the polymer completely
dissolved and homogenous solution produced. Then, different percentage weight
ratios of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th), 0.033 %, 0.040 %, 0.046
%, 0.053 %, and 0.060% were added to the PMMA solution. The
produced solution was stirred until the two polymers mixed
together and homogeneous solutions were formed. The produced solutions
of the poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend at different weight ratios of
the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th) were cast on glass slides of 1 mm thickness and left to dry
progressively and hard poly
(3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend films were obtained. The average thickness of these films was
around 1 mm. The absorbance (A) and the transmittance (T)
spectra of the prepared polymer film samples were measured by using Cecil UV -
Visible double - beam spectrophotometer (Model CE -7500) of the wavelength
range 190 - 1100 nm. For measuring the nonlinear optical properties and determining the
associated nonlinear optical parameters of the poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend films, the z -
scan technique was used. Fig.1. shows the schematic diagram of the z - scan
experimental setup used in the present work for the measurements of the nonlinear optical
properties of the prepared poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend films. The laser
used in the z - scan experiments was a continuous wave (CW) diode - pumped solid - state laser (DPSSL) of a Gaussian beam at λ = 532 nm wavelength. The laser is of
adjustable output power over the range 0 - 100 mW. A converging lens (L) of
focal length 5 cm was used to focus the laser beam on the film sample. The
radius of the laser beam (w0) at the beam waist is approximately 18
μm, and the intensity of the laser beam is calculated
and its value is Io = 1.94 kW / cm2. The
corresponding Rayleigh range (ZR) is 1.91 mm, which is
consisted with the z - scan condition that the length of the sample (L) must be
less than the Rayleigh range (ZR), namely, L << ZR [22]. The output laser
beam was spitted into two parts by the beam splitter (BS). The first part of
the laser beam is directed toward the photo-detector D1,
which was used to measure the power of the incident laser beam on the sample.
While the second part of the laser beam was focused on the film sample by the
convergence lens (L) and passes through the sample. Then the laser beam passes
through the narrow aperture and incident on the photo-detector
D2, which was placed behind the aperture to measure the power of the
transmitted beam. The radius of the aperture, which used in the closed
(partially open) aperture, is 1 mm. Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the z - scan experimental setup used for the measurements of the nonlinear optical properties of the
prepared film samples. 3.
RESULTS
AND DISCUSSION
UV - Visible absorbance spectra of the poly
(3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend films for different weight ratios of the copolymer poly
(3HT - Co - Th) were recorded over the wavelengths 300 - 900 nm by using the double - beam spectrophotometer, as shown in Fig. 2. The spectra show that the
high absorbance peaks are located around the wavelength 466 nm. The values of
absorbance are in the range of 0.05 - 0.34 (Arb. Units) for the
weight ratios range 0.033 % - 0.060 % of the copolymer poly (3HT
- Co - Th). It can be clearly seen that the value of the absorbance of the poly
(3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film increases with increasing the weight ratio of
the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th). Figure 2: UV- Visible absorbance spectra of the poly (3HT
- Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film at
different weight ratios of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th). The normalized transmittance curves of the
closed - aperture laser beam z - scan, the open - aperture laser beam z - scan,
and the pure nonlinear refraction of the p (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend
film at different weight ratios of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th) were
measured and are shown in Figs.3 (a) - (c), respectively. The contribution of
the nonlinear refraction only (the pure normalized transmittance curves in Fig.
3 (c)) was obtained by dividing the data of the normalized transmittance of the
closed - aperture laser beam z - scan by the data of the normalized
transmittance of the open - aperture laser beam z - scan. We noticed from Fig. 3 (a)
that the normalize transmittance curve starts with a peak in the negative part
of the z - axis to the valley in the positive part of the z - axis, this means
that the normalized transmittance curve has a peak - to - valley feature. Such
behavior is an indication of the exhibiting of self - defocusing effect of the
laser beam when passing through the polymer film samples, and thus these film
samples have negative values of the nonlinear refractive index (n2 <
0). It is clear from Fig. 3 (b) that there is an increase in the value of the
normalized transmittance when the sample approaches the focal point, and this
gives an indication that the prepared film samples in the present study exhibit
saturable absorption (SA) when the laser beam intensity increases, and this
means that these film samples have negative values of the nonlinear absorption
coefficient (β < 0).
Figure 3: Normalized transmittance curves for
the poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film at different weight ratios
of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th). (a) Closed - aperture z - scan. (b) Open
- aperture z - scan. (c) Pure nonlinear refraction. The nonlinear optical parameters, n2,
β, and the
real (Re (χ (3))) and the imaginary (Im (χ (3)))
parts of the third - order nonlinear optical susceptibility ((χ (3)))
can be determined from the following
relations.
By Using the difference between peak and valley
transmittances for the normalized transmission curve i.e., ∆Tp-v = Tp -
Tv, the phase difference ∆ϕo can be determined according to the following relation [25, 26]:
(1) where S is
the linear transmittance of the aperture and given by:
(2) where ra is the radius of the
aperture and wa is the radius of the laser beam at the entrance of
the aperture and given by:
(3) where λ is the wavelength of the laser
beam. Figure 4: shows the calculated peak - valley
transmittance difference (ΔT p-v) as a function of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co -
Th) weight ratio. It is seen that the value of ΔTP-v increases with
increasing the weight ratio of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th). Figure 4: Variation of ΔT p-v with the weight ratio of the copolymer poly (3HT
- Co - Th). The
nonlinear refractive index (n2) is given by the following relation [26]:
(4) where I0
is the intensity of the laser beam at focus (z = 0), and given by: (5) where P0
is the laser input power. The induced refractive index change (Δ n) of material is given by
the relation:
(6) where I is the intensity of the incident
laser beam. The nonlinear absorption coefficient (β) is given by the following relation:
where ∆T is the normalized transmittance
difference between peak at the focal point (z = 0) in the open aperture z -
scan normalized transmittance curve and the
baseline, and Leff
is the effective length of the sample and given by:
(8) where α0 is the linear
absorption coefficient of the medium.
The nonlinear optical parameters n2 and β are associated with the real (Re (χ (3)))
and the imaginary (Im (χ (3)))
parts of the third - order nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ (3)), and provide important information about the properties of the material. The real and the
imaginary parts of the third - order nonlinear optical susceptibility can be determined by
using the following relations [30]:
(9)
(10) The complex
third - order nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ (3)), can be described by the following relation:
(11) The
nonlinear refractive index (n2), the nonlinear absorption
coefficient (β), and the third - order nonlinear optical susceptibility (|χ (3) |) were plotted as a function of the weight
ratio of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th), as shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7,
respectively. The calculated values of the optical parameters of the prepared poly (3HT
- Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film for different weight ratios of the
copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th), are summarized in Table 1. It is clearly
noticed from this table; the values of the nonlinear optical parameters increase
with increasing the weight ratio of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th). Figure 5: The nonlinear refractive index (n2)
of the poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA
polymer blend film as a function of the weight ratio of the copolymer poly
(3HT - Co - Th). Figure 6: The nonlinear absorption
coefficient (β) of the poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA
polymer blend film as a function of the weight ratio of the copolymer poly
(3HT - Co - Th). Figure 7: The nonlinear third - order optical
susceptibility (|χ (3) |) of
the poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film as a function of the weight
ratio of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th). Table 1: The calculated values of the optical
parameters of poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film for five different
weight ratios of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th).
The optical
power limiting properties of the poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film
for different weight ratios of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th) were also
studied. Optical power limiting effect was study by using the z - scan
technique. The sample of the poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film was
fixed in the z - scan system after the focal point of the lens, and the
laser input power was varied progressively and the corresponding
laser output power was recorded by the photo-detector D2. Fig. 8
shows the optical power limiting curves (the laser output power versus the
laser input power) for the poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film at
different weight ratios of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th). From this figure, it is noticed that the laser input power - laser output power characteristic shape depends on the
weight ratio of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th). The poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film starts to show more
obvious power limiting behavior with increasing the weight ratio of the
copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th). Because an increase in the weight ratio of the
copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th), leads to increase the number of atoms of the
polymer film and this causes an increase in the absorption of the incoming
photon energy. As a result, the output power of the laser beam will decrease. The values of the optical power threshold (Pth) of the
optical power limiter of the prepared poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film was determined for the
different weight ratios of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th). The estimated
values of the optical power threshold (Pth) of the poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer
blend film for different weight ratios of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th) are shown in Table
2. It can be noticed that the value of the optical power threshold (Pth)
depends on the weight ratio of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th), and it
decreases with increasing the weight ratio of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co -
Th). Figure 8: Optical power limiting of the poly
(3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film for different weight ratios of the
copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th). Table 2: The estimated values of the optical power threshold (Pth)
of the poly (3HT - Co -
Th) - PMMA polymer blend film for different weight ratios of the copolymer poly
(3HT - Co - Th).
4.
CONCLUSIONS
The copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th) was prepared by
using the addition polymerization method and the film samples of the poly (3HT - Co -
Th) - PMMA polymer blend were prepared, for different weight ratios of the copolymer poly
(3HT - Co - Th), by
using the casting method. The nonlinear optical properties and the behavior of
the optical power limiting of the prepared poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA blend
polymer film sample for different weight ratios of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co
- Th) were studied. The nonlinear optical parameters of the prepared poly (3HT
- Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film samples, the refractive index (n2),
the nonlinear absorption coefficient (β), and the third - order optical susceptibility
(|χ (3) |) were measured by using the z -
scan technique with a continuous wave (CW) diode - pumped solid - state
laser (DPSSL) operating at the wavelength 532 nm. It is observed that the
prepared poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend sample films exhibit the
effects of the self - defocusing and the nonlinear saturable absorption (SA),
which is the indication of the negative values for both the nonlinear
refractive index and the nonlinear absorption coefficient (n2 < 0
and β < 0).
Obtained results show that increasing of the weight ratio of the copolymer poly
(3HT - Co - Th) in the poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film
sample will enhance the UV - visible absorption of the
polymer blend film sample. Also, increasing of the weight ratio of the copolymer poly (3HT -
Co - Th) in the poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend film sample will increase the values of the nonlinear optical parameters,
n2, β, and |χ (3) |),
of this polymer blend film sample. The optical power limiting behavior of the poly
(3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA blend polymer film was studied for different weight
ratios of the copolymer poly (3HT - Co - Th). The obtained results showed that
the prepared blend polymer films exhibit clear optical power limiting with
reasonably low power limiting threshold (Pth). Results indicate that
the prepared poly (3HT - Co - Th) - PMMA polymer blend films are promising
candidates, can be used as potential materials for different optical and electronic
applications, such as, optical power limiters, optical sensors, solar cells,
and other optical and optoelectronic devices. SOURCES OF FUNDINGThis research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. CONFLICT OF INTERESTThe author have declared that no competing interests exist. ACKNOWLEDGMENTNone. REFERENCES[1] G. Harsanyi, Polymer Films in Sensor Applications: Technology, Materials, Devices and Their Applications, (Technomic Publishing Company Inc., Pennsylvania, USA, 1995). [4] D. Arivuoli, Fundamentals of Nonlinear Optical Materials, Pramana J. Phys., 57 (2001) 871 - 883. [7] R. L Sutherland, (Ed), Handbook of Nonlinear Optics, 2nd Edition, (Dayton,Ohio, USA, 2003). [9] R. W. Boyd, Nonlinear Optics, 3rd Edition, (Elsevier Inc., New York, USA. 2008). Ltd., UK, 2013). [14] B. D. Guenther, Nonlinear Optics, 2nd Edition, (Oxford University Press, UK,2015). [27] Y. R. Shen, The Principle of Nonlinear Optics, (John Wiley and Sons, New York, USA, 1984).
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