Preparation and properties of doped carbons and optical limiting in broad band absorbing materials

The work in this dissertation encompasses four major areas in carbon chemistry research. C₆₀ fullerene is the topic of the first work The research in this area was devoted to studying the temperature dependence of the reaction between C₆₀ and primary amine for application toward C₆₀-alkali metal superconductor synthesis. The results showed that C₆₀ does not react with primary amines at depressed temperatures for short time frames. The second work is in the area of carbon soots. This research involved synthesizing pristine carbon soots and those doped with heteroatoms, such as nitrogen and sulfur using an arc-vaporizer. These materials were used in optical limiting studies. The doping of pyrolytic graphite (PG) by pulsed laser heating is the subject of the third project. The results from this work showed new chemistry between atoms of sulfur and nitrogen and the PG. This project also resulted in the development of a new synthetic route for doping well ordered structures. The fourth project applies the doped soots and other broad band absorbing materials to optical limiting. This research was done in collaboration with SRI International and resulted in a better understanding of the mechanisms in suspension based optical limiters.