Product Code: ICAL05_M703

Carbon Nanotube-Based Coatings for Laser Power and Energy Measurements
Authors:
John Lehman, NIST; Boulder CO USA
Presented at ICALEO 2005

The optical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been investigated in the interest of creating thermal absorbers and advanced coatings for various laser power and energy measurement applications. We present an overview of the desirable optical, thermal and damage properties of carbon nanotubes and propose CNT-based coatings as the next generation of radiometric standards for laser power and energy measurements. In addition we will present the processes by which we have grown CNTs and the extent to which they may be compatible with thermal detectors. General challenges facing CNT manufacturers and our effort to create rapid, inexpensive metrology based on optical and laser-based measurements will be presented. We have recently demonstrated the responsivity of carbon single-wall nanotubes (SWNTs) and carbon multi-wall nanotubes (MWNTs) on pyroelectric materials and we compare results of our spectral, spatial and directional uniformity measurements. We will also discuss an effective medium approximation for the dielectric function of SWNTs and MWNTs, which may be useful for designing coatings for wavelength-specific applications in the future.