Investigation of optical nonlinearities of an azo dye using a 532 nm diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser

Solid-state dye-doped polymers are attractive alternatives to the conventional liquid dye systems. In this paper, the third order nonlinear optical property of Sudan III, an azo dye in solvents and dye doped polymer films measured using the Z-scan technique is reported. Multiple diffraction rings were observed when the dye doped in both the liquid and solid media was exposed to a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm.