Two-photon absorption and effective broadband optical power limiting properties of a multi-branched chromophore containing 2,3-diarylquinoxalinyl moieties as the electron-pulling units

A novel multi-branched chromophore containing 2,3-diarylquinoxalinyl units as the electron-acceptors had been synthesized and its nonlinear optical properties were characterized in the femtosecond and nanosecond regime. The experimental results show that the studied fluorophore possesses strong and wide-dispersed two-photon absorption in near infrared (NIR) region. It is demonstrated that the incorporation of 2,3-disubstituted quinoxaline moieties as a part of π-conjugation in a dye molecule could be a useful approach toward large molecular two-photon absoptivities within the studied spectral region. Effective optical-power-attenuation behaviors in the nanosecond time domain of this compound were also investigated and the results indicate that such dye molecule can be a potential material as a broadband and quick-responsive optical limiter especially when against those laser lights with longer pulses.