Abstract

We report the observation of optical limiting in a two-dimensional photonic bandgap material with embedded nonlinearity.¹ Structures that possess a periodically modulated index of refraction with a pitch comparable to the wavelength of light are called photonic bandgap materials.² Light waves interact within these in a manner analogous to that of electrons within semiconductor crystals. Recently,³ two-dimensional photonic bandgap behavior, consistent with theory, was demonstrated in the visible using nanochannel glass (NCG) technology.⁴ In the present study, an effective limiter for the visible is realized by incorporating a thermal nonlinear liquid, consisting of an absorbing dye, nigrosin, dissolved in a solution of ethanol and toluene contained within the NCG capillaries. We observe nonlinearly induced transmissions of < 0.003, a significantly better value than obtained using either a defocusing or a hybrid incoherent scattering/ defocusing geometry with comparable nonlinearity.

© 1998 Optical Society of America