Optical orientation of azo dye molecules in a thin solid film upon nonlinear excitation by femtosecond laser pulses

The orientation of molecules in an amorphous pure azo dye film upon nonlinear excitation is detected for the first time. The simultaneous increase and decrease in the film transmission by a factor of 2.5 for orthogonal polarisations of probe radiation indicated the appearance of orientation order in the film caused by the reorientation of azo dye molecules. Due to a high photostability of the AD-1 azo dye demonstrated in single-photon experiments and a high efficiency of nonlinear orientation obtained in experiments with femtosecond pulses, this dye can be widely used in three-dimensional nanophotonic devices such as photonic crystals, optical computers, and optical memory.