Wavelength independent "Babinet compensator optical limiter" (BCOL)

    Authors

    F. E. Hernandez; S. S. Yang; D. J. Hagan;E. W. Van Stryland

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Mol. Cryst. Liquid Cryst.

    Keywords

    optical limiters; liquid crystals; polarization changes; ABSORPTION; Crystallography

    Abstract

    We present a new, wavelength-independent optical limiter based on the Babinet compensator principle. The initial polarization change of an incident optical wave passing through a nematic liquid crystal placed between two parallel polarizers is compensated with a second identical sample, with its director Vector perpendicular to that of the first cell. If there is some small absorption in just one of the cells, there is a thermally induced index change that produces an irradiance-dependent retardance. The resulting polarization change causes a decrease in the transmittance by more than one order of magnitude as the input energy is increased. Experiments were performed using a frequency-doubled 7 ns pulsed Nd-YAG laser, at a 10 Hz repetition rate as a pump, and a cw He-Ne as a probe to monitor the pump laser generated limiting effect.

    Journal Title

    Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals

    Volume

    358

    Publication Date

    1-1-2001

    Document Type

    Article; Proceedings Paper

    Language

    English

    First Page

    301

    Last Page

    310

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000168132300025

    ISSN

    1058-725X

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