Preparation, crystal structure, spectrographic characterization, thermal and third-order nonlinear optical properties of benzyltriethylammonium bis(2-thioxo-1,3-dithiole-4,5-dithiolato)aurate(III) for all-optical switching applications

The preparation and crystal structure of a novel nonlinear optical organometallic crystal, benzyltriethylammonium bis(2-thioxo-1,3-dithiole-4,5-dithiolato)aurate(III) (BTEAADT), are described. The crystal was characterized by elemental analyses, infrared and X-ray powder diffraction spectroscopy, thermal analysis and optical absorption. A typical highly optical quality single crystal with dimensions of about 30 × 3 × 3 mm3 has been grown from an acetone solution by the solvent evaporation method. The specific heat of the crystal was measured to be 692.0 J mol−1 K−1 at 300 K. The thin film of BTEAADT doped into poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) with a concentration of 1 wt% was prepared using spin-coating method. The linear properties of the thin film were investigated by a prism coupler. The third-order nonlinear optical properties of BTEAADT doped PMMA film was investigated by using the laser Z-scan technique with 20 ps pulses at 1064 nm. A large negative nonlinear refraction and no nonlinear absorption have been observed. The refractive index and the thickness of the film are 1.4682 and 1.15 μm, respectively. The nonlinear refractive index is calculated to be −3.978 × 10−15m2/W for the film. At the same time, the nonlinear absorption coefficient is 0. Two figures of merit, W and T of the film, were calculated to be |W| = 1.07 > 1, |T| = 0 << 1. All results show that BTEAADT crystal has very potential applications on all-optical switching.

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