Abstract

Anisotropy in the nonlinear optical properties of fixed organic dye molecules has been used for polarization sensitive four wave mixing¹ or transient holography.^2,3 Here we demonstrate a joint transform correlator⁴ which is based on anisotropic angular distribution of fluorescein molecules fixed in boric acid glass.⁵ Linearly polarized pump light (457.9 nm wavelength) is used excite molecules into their long lived triplet state (lifetime = 0.2 s to 0.008 s depending on temperature). Excited molecules are probed by light from a second, linearly polarised, read beam and make transitions to higher lying triplet states. Since the transition electric dipole moments and the main axis of the polarizability tensor are aligned with the molecular axis, dichroism and birefringence in the glass, which change the state of the read beam polarisation, are controlled by the local pump intensity.

© 1990 Optical Society of America