Obiettivo
Several issues, even at the basic research level, have been addressed in order to make it possible achieving the project objectives. These issues pertain to:
i) the design, preparation and testing of intelligent materials endowed with OL properties either through the sol-gel technique, to produce hybrid organic-inorganic glasses, or by vacuum deposition of thin films;
ii) the exploitation of these materials to accomplish OL in a practical protective device.
Satisfactory completion of the following programme items was accomplished:
1. The technical requirements for an optical limiter have been defined with regard to the protection of the human eye and of a CCD detector.
2. Fullerene derivatives highly soluble in polar solvents and functionalised for stable inclusion in sol-gel materials have been designed and synthetic strategies have developed.
3. Fullerene-based supermolecular structures (dyads) have been designed with the aim of providing alternative mechanisms for OL in an extended wavelength range.
4. Zn-phthalocyanine:C60 composite films deposited in a UHV have been prepared.
5. A range of hybrid organic-inorganic sol-gel matrices have been developed.
6. A very versatile computer program for the modelling of RSA and related phenomena has been made available for the design of materials and the quantitative analysis of experimental data.
7. Technologies for an extensive, virtually complete characterisation of the NL optical properties of the materials of interest to the project have been set up and used.
8. Datasheets reporting results of measurements, analytical examinations and tests of the structural and mechanical properties and of the environmental stability of the sol-gel samples have been produced.
9. Design and development of interference coatings to complete a limiting device has been carried out.
10. A demonstrator for a laser protection filter (the optical limiter) was designed and build.
11. Complete functional tests of the prototype OL device (the demonstrator) have been carried out and are available.
To date, most of the materials issues have been solved allowing an assessment of the potentialities of fullerene materials for OL based on an RSA mechanism. A few critical points were also identified. They relate mostly to:
1) the transparency/efficiency trade-off which is typical of the RSA phenomenon;
2) the widening of the operational wavelength range both in the visible and in the infrared.
Beside efforts aiming to test and optimise prototype devices based on the available materials, novel materials, mechanisms and phenomena for OL have been explored.
The objective of this RTD project is to develop and demonstrate prototype devices for the protection of the human eye and of optical detectors against damage from exposure to powerful light sources such as pulsed lasers. The research approach is to exploit the very efficient reverse saturable absorption phenomenon exhibited by the fullerene molecules, C60 and their derivatives, to develop smart optical materials. At the present time there is no efficient means of protection against pulsed tunable lasers. For example, the use of protective goggles or filters based on absorbing microparticles, optical multilayers or electro-optic effects is critical because of the low transmission, the high angular sensitivity or the slowness of the systems. As laser sources with different emission wavelengths, pulse energy, pulse duration and shape are continuously being developed and used, the need for self-activated protection devices will increase and their use will become more imperious. For laser pulses of duration between 10-l2 . 10-6 s, the safety level for the eye is around 1 ,uJ and, to protect against accidental direct view, the protection device should be capable of a 104 attenuation factor. Yet, if vision under ordinary conditions is not to be limited by the protection device, its transmittance for low level light signals should be in the order of 70%. Other, more precise specifications will be worked out by AEROSPATIALE (AS), an aeronautic industry end-user of the project, in view of the expected future use of lasers in its production and maintenance areas. Further expected uses will emerge as assistance or communication systems of planes or helicopters will ask for new kinds of protection of workers, pilots, etc. and optical sensors of, for instance, imaging systems. The intended research aims at combining qualified and complementary expertise in (i) the design and synthesis of functionalized fullerenes, (ii) the deposition of organic thin films (CNRISM), (iii) the preparation of glassy materials by the sol-gel technique, (iv) the linear and nonlinear optical and spectroscopic characterization, (v) the design, development and testing of optical and light control components and devices, in a coordinated effort to thoroughly investigate and solve the variety of issues related to the production of optical limiting materials and devices with optimized performances The development of such nonlinear optical devices will strengthen the European position in the photonics area. Potential applications are large as the use of adequate laser protections should reduce the reluctance of industries to use lasers for the development of innovative systems and processes. Furhtermore, since novel optical components are the final target of the project, the techllology transfer will be greatly beneficial to the competitiveness of SMEs which are very common in the laser, optics, and opto-electronics European indusrty
Campo scientifico (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifica i progetti con EuroSciVoc, una tassonomia multilingue dei campi scientifici, attraverso un processo semi-automatico basato su tecniche NLP. Cfr.: Il Vocabolario Scientifico Europeo.
CORDIS classifica i progetti con EuroSciVoc, una tassonomia multilingue dei campi scientifici, attraverso un processo semi-automatico basato su tecniche NLP. Cfr.: Il Vocabolario Scientifico Europeo.
- ingegneria e tecnologia ingegneria elettrica, ingegneria elettronica, ingegneria informatica ingegneria elettronica sensori sensori ottici
- ingegneria e tecnologia ingegneria dei materiali rivestimenti e pellicole
- ingegneria e tecnologia ingegneria dei materiali solidi amorfi
- ingegneria e tecnologia ingegneria meccanica ingegneria dei veicoli ingegneria aerospaziale aeromobili aerogiro
- scienze naturali scienze fisiche ottica fisica dei laser laser a impulsi
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Programma(i)
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Programmi di finanziamento pluriennali che definiscono le priorità dell’UE in materia di ricerca e innovazione.
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Gli inviti a presentare proposte sono suddivisi per argomenti. Un argomento definisce un’area o un tema specifico per il quale i candidati possono presentare proposte. La descrizione di un argomento comprende il suo ambito specifico e l’impatto previsto del progetto finanziato.
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Meccanismo di finanziamento
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Meccanismo di finanziamento (o «Tipo di azione») all’interno di un programma con caratteristiche comuni. Specifica: l’ambito di ciò che viene finanziato; il tasso di rimborso; i criteri di valutazione specifici per qualificarsi per il finanziamento; l’uso di forme semplificate di costi come gli importi forfettari.
Coordinatore
35131 PADOVA
Italia
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