Silica Hybrid Sol–Gel Materials with Unusually High Concentration of Pt–Organic Molecular Guests: Studies of Luminescence and Nonlinear Absorption of Light

Abstract

The development of new photonic materials is a key step toward improvement of existing optical devices and for the preparation of a new generation of systems. Therefore synthesis of photonic hybrid materials with a thorough understanding and control of the microstructure-to-properties relationships is crucial. In this perspective, a new preparation method based on fast gelation reactions using simple dispersion of dyes without strong covalent bonding between dye and matrix has been developed. This new sol-gel method is demonstrated through synthesis of monolithic siloxane-based hybrid materials highly doped by various platinum(II) acetylide derivatives. Concentrations of the chromophores as high as 400 mM were obtained and resulted in unprecedented optical power limiting (OPL) performance at 532 nm of the surface-polished solids. Static and time-resolved photoluminescence of the prepared hybrid materials were consistent with both OPL data and previous studies of similar Pt(II) compounds in solution. The impacts of the microstructure and the chemical composition of the matrix on the spectroscopic properties, are discussed.

Sol-Gel Glasses Doped with Pt-Acetylides and Gold Nanoparticles for Enhanced Optical Power Limiting

“…Doping sol-gel bulk glasses with high concentrations of Pt-Acetylide chromophores while retaining the ability to polish the glasses to optical quality had previously been solved in cooperation with Prof. Parola's group at ENS de Lyon [1]. While their group focused on the production of the bulk materials, chromophores and gold nanoparticles, our group polished the glasses (L.-G. Heimdal) and characterized their optical properties.…”

“…A previously used method to increase OPL performance is by increasing the concentration of chromophores in the filter, though the increase in performance decline with higher concentration [1]. Sol-gel glasses have proven to be versatile since they can be doped with gold nano-particles and/or high concentrations of Pt-ethynyl chromophores while retaining their ability to be polished for optical use [1,15,17].…”

“…Sol-gel glasses highly doped with Pt-Acetylide chromophores have previously shown high optical quality in combination with efficient optical power limiting through reverse saturable absorption 1 . These filters will transmit visible light unless the light fluence is above a certain threshold.…”

“…Furthermore, an inherent goal of my PhD studies is to develop and consolidate FOI's capability to design new laser protection filters. Finally, an important objective not to be forgotten is to maintain the cooperation with our university partners.Doping sol-gel bulk glasses with high concentrations of Pt-Acetylide chromophores while retaining the ability to polish the glasses to optical quality had previously been solved in cooperation with Prof. Parola's group at ENS de Lyon [1]. While their group focused on the production of the bulk materials, chromophores and gold nanoparticles, our group polished the glasses (L.-G. Heimdal) and characterized their optical properties.…”

Investigations on Eu3+ Doped Zinc Phosphate Glasses for Photonic Applications

“…Glasses with rare earth ions are one of the functional optical materials. Glasses are in particularly suitable for rare earth ions due to higher solubility in host glass matrix [2]. Generally, rare earth elements have been widely used to modify the host properties of functional materials due to their unique physiochemical activity.…”