Abstract
Optical limiters relying on nonlinear absorption or nonlinear refraction are most effective against an incoming laser beam when the active material is thicker than one Rayleigh length. We have found that a variety of thick optical limiter configurations can be modelled by integrating the formulae for optical transmission by thin media, and that the results are exact to the first order in power or irradiance. The limiter behaviour saturates as the optical power increases. For the case of thick irradiance-dependent absorbers and an incident Gaussian beam model, we have also found that the predictions of a simple saturation formula for the optical transmittance agree well with the transmittance values computed using a numerical technique. Under certain conditions this saturation formula is also suitable for describing the transmission of nonlinear refractors, thereby providing a straight-forward technique for modelling limiters over a broad parameter range.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Van Stryland, E.W., Y.Y. Wu, D.J. Hagan, M.J. Soileau and K. Mansour, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B. 9 1980, 1988.
Tutt, L.W. and A. Kost, Nature 356 225, 1992.
Perry, J.W., K. Mansour, I.-Y.S. Lee, X.-L. Wu, P.V. Bedworth, C.-T. Chen, D. Ng, S.R. Marder, P. Miles, T. Wada, M. Tian and H. Sasabe, Science 273 1533, 1996.
Crane, R., K. Lewis, E.W. Van Stryland and M. Khoshnevisan (eds.), Materials for Optical Limiting (Mat. Res. Soc., 1994 Fall Meeting, Boston, MA, vol. 374 1995.
Sutherland R., R. Pachter, P. Hood, D. Hagan, K. Lewis and J. Perry (eds.), Materials for Optical Limiting II (Mat Res Soc 1997 Spring Meeting, San Francisco, CA), vol 479 1998.
Hermann, J.A. and P.J. Wilson. Int. J. Nonlin. Opt. Phys. 2 613, 1993.
Miles, P.A. Appl. Opt. 33 6965, 1994.
Hagan, D.J., T. Xia, A. Dogiariu, A.A. Said and E.W. Van Stryland in R. Crane, K. Lewis, E.W. Van Stryland, and M. Khoshnevisan (eds.), Materials for Optical Limiting (Mat. Res. Soc. 1994 Fall Meeting, Boston, MA), vol. 374 (1995) p 161.
Chapple, P.B., J. Staromlynska and R.G. McDuff, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 11 975, 1994.
Sheik-Bahae, M., A.A. Said, T.-H. Wei, D.J. Hagan and E.W. Van Stryland, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 26 760, 1990.
Hermann, J.A. Int. J. Nonlin. Opt. Phys. 1 541, 1992.
Sheik-Bahae, M., A.A. Said, D.J. Hagan, M.J. Soileau and E.W. Van Stryland, Opt. Eng. 30 1228, 1991.
Nasalski, W. Opt. Commun. 119 218, 1995.
Hermann, J.A. and R.G. McDuff, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 10 2056, 1993.
Chapple, P.B., J. Staromlynska, J.A. Hermann, T.J. McKay and R.G. McDuff, J. Nonlin. Opt. Phys. & Mat. 6 251, 1997
McDuff, R., A.E. Smith, N.R. Heckenberg and J.A. Hermann, Int. J. Nonlin. Opt. Phys. 1 265, 1992.
Hermann, J.A. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 14 814, 1997.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chapple, P.B., Hermann, J.A. & Mcduff, R.G. Power saturation effects in thick single-element optical limiters. Optical and Quantum Electronics 31, 555–569 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006935600751
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006935600751