Sol-gel chemistry is a potent approach for the realization of optical materials, and enables chromophores incorporation in materials making the soft process a gateway for many applications. In this work, we focused on monolithic sol-gel materials, heavily doped with optically active chromophores for the realization of solid-sate optical power limiting devices in the visible and near-infrared range.The elaboration and optimization of compatibles sol-gel matrices with those chromophores was the first step. An investigation of the different synthesis parameters and the nature of the precursors on the materials nanostructure were done, together with the creation of high speed gelation processes to enable the incorporation of very high chromophores contents.Using these approaches, the preparation of highly doped materials for optical power limiting in the visible and the near infrared range was successful, and the impact of the matrices on chromophores properties was studied. Evaluation of optical limiting properties of these materials revealed exceptional performance in the visible range and promising results for the NIR range.Finally, isotropic and anisotropic gold spheres were prepared and incorporated inside the materials. The resulting composites showed enhancements of the non-linear properties of the chromophores inside the matrix, and dramatic improvement of the optical power limiting efficiency was achieved.
