Nonlinear optical behavior of porphyrin functionalized nanodiamonds: an efficient material for optical power limiting

The nonlinear optical mechanisms and the optical limiting behavior of porphyrin functionalized detonation nanodiamonds are investigated and compared to the conventional detonation nanodiamonds (DNDs). The optical limiting behavior is characterized by means of nonlinear transmittance, Z-scan, and scattered intensity measurements when submitted to a nanosecond pulsed Nd:YAG laser operating at the second harmonic wavelength. We found that the largest nonlinear attenuation was observed on the 4,4^',4^'',4^'''-(porphyrin-5, 10, 15, 20-tetrayl) tetrakis benzoic acid (PCOOH) suspension. Using Z-scan experiments, it is shown that nonlinear refraction predominates in the unfunctionalized DND suspension, while nonlinear absorption is the most relevant mechanism in the porphyrin functionalized DNDs. Furthermore, a stronger backscattered intensity signal is highlighted for the unfunctionalized DNDs through nonlinear scattering measurements.