Optical limiting with C-60 and other fullerenes

In view of a possible application in optical limiting devices for protection against laser radiation, at the Defence Research Establishment Valcartier we have studied the nonlinear transmission properties of fullerenes. The study involved C-60, C-70, C-76, C-84, several derivatives of C-60, and a variety of solvents. The nonlinear measurements were made with 7-ns pulses at 532 nm from a Nd:YAG laser. For optical limiting applications, solutions of C-60 yielded better results than the other fullerenes, with a solution of C-60 in chlorobenzene being marginally the best. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.