(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2007) Sims, Michael Keith; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Charles W. Spangler
While entering a technologically advanced world, where inventions of weapons occur rapidly, there is a constant need for research leading up to and preventing these weapons from being harmful. The use of lasers as an eye-damaging agent is one such weapon that requires the construction of good optical limiting materials that combat the harmful effects of these lasers. Optical power limiting materials should have the capability to respond quickly as well as span a large frequency range. Over the last two years, research has been conducted on the synthesis and absorption characteristics of new dendrimers incorporating from 3-6 chromophores that are capable of optical limiting of laser pulses in the visible region (400-600 nm) of the spectrum. These chromophores have been coupled to two new core molecules based on thiophosphoryl and cyclophosphazene derivatives by Wittig methodology yielding G-0 dendrimers with high chromophore density.
