Nonlocal Nonlinear Optical Response of Ionic Liquids under Violet Excitation

The nonlocal nonlinearity under violet excitation of ionic liquids was investigated using the Z-scan technique. The bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (Tf2N−) was employed as anionic part, while the cationic part consisted of four different imidazolium (, with , 6, 8, and 10) derivatives. The thermooptical coefficients, nonlinear refractive indexes of thermal origin, and degree of nonlocality were obtained for laser excitation tuned at 410 nm. Our results indicate that ionic liquids can be exploited as very efficient nonlinear media with large nonlocal character under violet excitation.