Solvent effect induced solute damage in an organic inner salt.

Nonlinear absorption of a newly synthesized organic inner salt Ge-150 dissolved in four different solvents (DMF, DMSO, acetonitrile and acetone) is investigated by the Z-scan technique with both nanosecond and picosecond pulses. When pulse energy surpasses a threshold and pulse-to-pulse separation is shorter than a characteristic time, all the four solutions show absorption weakening induced by cross-pulse effects in the picosecond regime. However, only two of them (Ge-150 dissolved in DMF and DMSO) show this weakening in the nanosecond regime. By conducting a simple verification experiment, we verify this absorption weakening is induced by solute damage related to solvent effect rather than solute migration. A simple theoretical model is proposed to interpret the experimental phenomenon.