Optical limiting and its mechanism in potash alum

Abstract

Optical power limiting is the increase of optical absorption with light intensity. Pure crystalline potashalum was grown and optical absorption in dependences of the light intensity and thickness of the crystalwas studied using laser light. The transmission of the crystals was found to increase with increasinglight intensity. However, at higher light intensity, an increase of optical absorption with intensity wasobserved. The power limiting characteristics, e.g. linear transmission/dynamic range and saturation point,were found to be varied with thickness of the crystal. The findings resulting from this investigation mighthave potential applications in optical limiting