The nonlinear optical response (NLO)
of some boron (B-GO), nitrogen
(N-GO) doped, B,N individually doped (B,N-GO), and B and N domain
doped (BN-GO) reduced graphene oxides (GO) is investigated under 4
ns, visible and infrared laser excitation. Besides their very large
NLO response, it is shown that the B and/or N doping results in enhancement
of the NLO response of undoped GO, the latter exhibiting weak response
under visible excitation and negligible response under infrared excitation.
In addition, the optical limiting (OL) action of B,N-GO and BN-GO
was studied from 450 to 2300 nm and is compared to that of B-GO and
N-GO, previously studied. Both B and N codoped graphenes exhibit very
efficient broadband OL performance from visible to NIR, more efficient
than that of B-GO and N-GO. Actually, the optical limiting onset of
B,N-GO and BN-GO was found to attain record low values of 0.00096
and 0.00081 J cm–2 toward NIR wavelengths, lower
than any known graphene-based derivative. The current work demonstrates
unambiguously the effectiveness of defect engineering of graphene
to tailor and enhance the NLO response and optical power limiting
action for several photonic and (opto)electronic applications.