Abstract

The platinum-containing metallo-organic complex Pt:ethynyl (fig. 1) and the related polymer Pt:polyyne have attracted attention due to a large absorptive nonlinearity at 532nm [1], offering a potential application as a material for optical limiting. Recent time-resolved fluorescence measurements of Pt:polyynes [2] have emphasised that inter-system crossing transitions to the triplet state contribute to both linear absorption and luminescence spectra due to strong spin-orbit coupling mediated by the platinum atom. In a recent publication [3] we suggested that the triplet state may also exhibit strong coupling in the Pt:ethynyl complex, resulting in a contribution to nonlinear absorption at 532nm due to a direct ground-state singlet to triplet transition.

© 1996 Optical Society of America