title: Photobleaching of a solid photochromic medium by a Gaussian laser beam.
abstract: Equations that describe the photobleaching of photochromic layers illuminated by Gaussian laser beams are given. The photochromic samples are made of thionine, triethanolamine, and polyvinyl alcohol and follow simple kinetics law. Spatial absorbance and time-dependent power transmittance are well described by the developed equations. The model is used to calculate the Gaussian dimension of helium-neon laser beams from kinetics data.
authors.affiliation: Département de Physique, Centre d'Optique, Photonique et Lasers, Université Laval, Québec, Canada. serge.caron@ino.ca
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caron
authors.forename: Roger A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Lessard
authors.forename: Pierre C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Roberge