χ(3) measurements and optical limiting studies of 2-chloro-5-nitro-N′-[(1E)-phenylmethylidene] benzohydrazide with substituents

Abstract The nonlinear optical properties of hydrazones substituted with different donor groups were studied using single beam Z-scan technique with nanosecond laser pulses at 532 nm. The nonlinear response in these molecules was found to increase with increase in the donor strength of the substituted group. The χ (3) value of these molecules is found to be of the order of 10 −13 esu. The nonlinear refractive index ( n 2 ) of the samples is found to be negative and the largest value of n 2 obtained for the strong donor-substituted molecule is −8.83 × 10 −11 esu. All samples show good optical limiting behavior at 532 nm. The best optical limiting behavior was observed with the molecule substituted by a strong electron donor.