Optical limiting properties of composites of iron, nickel and cobalt phthalocyanine complexes with single-wall carbon nanotubes and assessment of their efficiency by latest correlation methods

One of the strategic directions of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation is the creation of highly effective protection against laser radiation attack. A small series of phthalocyanine complexes with 3$d$-row metals (iron (1a), cobalt (1b), and nickel (1c)) has been synthesized. It is shown that the enhancement of the nonlinear optical response (NOR) of these dyes is possible by simply adsorbing them on the surface of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The efficiency of the nonlinear absorbers has been evaluated using open aperture Z-scan and fixed sample position methods. It is found that the nature of the metal complexing agent allows fine-tuning of the NLO properties of the materials. Thus, the highest value of the nonlinear absorption coefficient ($\beta$ = 650 cm/GW) was obtained for 1c (PcNi). The estimation of the optical confinement efficiency for the obtained complexes was performed using correlation relations derived in our previous works by the state-of-the-art high performance CORRELATO method. Special “efficiency” descriptors were used, which allowed us to classify our materials into three groups within the graphical analysis. As a result, composites SWCNTs/PcFe (2a) and SWCNTs/ PcCo (2b) are found to have the best combined limiting characteristics and can meet the design requirements.