New materials useful as saturable absorbers

摘要

A material that is a saturable absorber capable of passive Q-switching is provided. In one embodiment the material is a saturable absorber optical compound that forms in an atomic arrangement that comprises boron polyanions and photoactive metal cations. Thus, the present invention encompasses host materials comprising boron polyanions into which suitable photoactive cations are introduced into the four-coordinated zinc site, said photoactive cations capable of producing a saturable absorption effect.