Abstract

Polymers and glasses doped with small semiconductor clusters represent a new class of materials. These materials are interesting for two reasons. First, the size of the semicondutor clusters can be controlled to vary from a few to hundreds of Å. This provides a vehicle to study the transition of a semiconductor from molecular to bulk. Secondly, by doping polymers or glasses with these small semiconductor clusters, utilizing their large resonant third order nonlinearity, new optically nonlinear composite materials can be prepared. In this paper we will discuss the linear and nonlinear optical properties of PbS and CdS clusters in polymer films.

© 1988 Optical Society of America