Photoacoustic signal saturation and optical limiting in C70-toluene solution

Riju C. Issac S. S. Harilal Geetha K. Varier C. V. Bindhu V. P. N. Nampoori C. P. G. Vallabhan Cochin University of Science and Technology International School of Photonics Laser Division Cochin 682 022, India Abstract. Pulsed photoacoustic studies in solutions of C70 in toluene are made using the 532-nm radiation from a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser. It is found that contrary to expectation, there is no photoacoustic (PA) signal enhancement in the power-limiting range of laser fluences. Instead, the PA signal tends to saturate during optical power-limiting phenomenon. This could be due to the enhanced optical absorption from the photoexcited state and hence the depletion of the ground-state population. PA measurements also ruled out the possibility of multiphoton absorption in the C70 solution. We demonstrate that the nonlinear absorption leading to optical limiting is mainly due to reverse saturable absorption. © 1997 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.