Wavelength Independent Human Eye Protection Utilizing Fullerenes

Current concepts of holographic and dye technology do not provide eye protection from lasers at unknown wavelength and in the spectral region from 400 - 900 nm. Recently it has been shown that fullerenes have excellent nonlinear optical properties and show the best limiting performance of all materials including response in the nanosecond range. This program will further investigate fullerenes and fullerene compounds as liquid limiters for laser protection devices capable of providing eye protection from damage and transient effects when irradiated by unknown wavelenghts of a laser. The optical limiting performance of candidate fullerene and fullerene compounds will be established to demonstrate the feasibility of this concept, and to identify the material design and technology needs that must be matured for a protection devices(s) demonstration.