Optical limiting and bleaching effects in a suspension of onion-like carbon

We have studied the effect of nanosecond laser pulses (λ = 1064 nm) on the optical properties of onion-like carbon (OLC) prepared by high-temperature vacuum annealing of detonation nanodiamond and dispersed in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). The results demonstrate that, under low-intensity irradiation, the OLC suspension displays optical limiting behaviour. Increasing the incident intensity leads to bleaching of the suspension in the visible and near-IR spectral regions.