Third-order nonlinear optical properties and its limiting behavior of polyaniline/SiO₂ composite materials

Polyaniline are promising molecules which present very attractive properties for nonlinear optical applications. The nonlinear optical properties of polyaniline composite materials(PANI/SiO₂) were studied using the single beam Z-scan technique. The nonlinear absorption coefficient (β) and nonlinear refractive index (n₂) was retrieved by fitting experimental data. These molecules exhibit a strong reverse saturable absorption and an interesting optical limiting performance with a nanosecond Nd: YAG laser pulses at 532 nm.