Anthraquinones are a class of organic dyes with a wide range of uses in optical devices that require intensities above the damage threshold for operation. It has been demonstrated that some anthraquinones doped into (poly)methyl methacrylate(PMMA) demonstrate the novel effect of self healing. One theory of decay and self healing is photocharge ejection and recombination. Using digital imaging we probe the electric field dependent decay and recovery of the anthraquinone disperse orange 11(DO11) doped into PMMA. We find that the electric field works to mitigate decay and improves recovery, as well as find that for large fields the sample appears to recover beyond 100%.

Date Published: 4 December 2012
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 8530, Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 2012, 85301G (4 December 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.977203

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8530:
Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 2012
Gregory J. Exarhos; Vitaly E. Gruzdev; Joseph A. Menapace; Detlev Ristau; M J Soileau, Editor(s)