Elastic Polymer Guest-Host Optical Limiters

This paper presents the results of the bulk laser damage performance of undoped epoxy thermosets with glassy and rubbery mechanical properties and two commercial polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) samples. We demonstrate how thermomechanical properties such as glass transition temperature (Tg) and equilibrium shear modulus (Ge) affect laser damage threshold. The rubbery epoxy elastomer shows a damage threshold fluence one order of magnitude higher than PMMA and 2.5 orders of magnitude higher than a glassy epoxy thermoset. A solid-state guest-host limiter is made by doping the epoxy elastomer with zinc octabromotetraphenylporphyrin (ZnOBP). The limiting performance of the elastomer limiter is compared to a solution of ZnOBP and C60 in toluene. Photochemical hysteresis effects in the solid limiter were also investigated.