Nonlinear Optical Studies of DNA Doped Rhodamine 6G-PVA Films Using Picosecond Pulses

Sasidharan Sreeja, Balan Nityaja, Debasis Swain, Vadakkedathu Parameswaran Narayana Nampoori, Padmanabhan Radhakrishnan, Soma Venugopal Rao

Advanced Centre of Research in High Energy Materials (ACRHEM), University of Hyderabad, Prof. C. R. Rao Road, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.
International School of Photonics, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, India.

DOI: 10.4236/opj.2012.23019                

Abstract

We present our results from the measurements of third-order optical nonlinearity in DNA doped Rhodamine 6G/PVA films achieved through Z-scan measurements using ~2 picosecond (ps) pulses at a wavelength of 800 nm. The films demonstrated negative nonlinear refractive index (n2) with magnitudes of (0.065 - 2.89) × 10–14 cm2/W with varying concentration of DNA. Open aperture data demonstrated strong two-photon absorption with a magnitude of ~1.6 cm/GW for films doped with 2 wt% of DNA. The recovery time of excited state population, retrieved from the degenerate pump-probe experimental data, was <4 ps. These data suggests that DNA is promising material for applications such as optical switching.

Keywords

DNA; Thin Films; Z-Scan; Picosecond; Two-Photon Absorption

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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