The optical properties of Violet 1-doped polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) have been investigated using Wemble and Didomenico (WD) method. The optical constants such as refractive index n, the dispersion energy Ed, the oscillation energy E0, the lattice dielectric constant ε∞\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$\varepsilon _{\infty } $\end{document}, light frequency dielectric constant ε0 and the ratio of carrier concentration to the effective mass N/m* have been determined using reflection spectra in the wavelength range 300–900 nm. The single- beam Z-scan technique was used to determine the nonlinear optical properties of Violet 1:polyvinylalcohol (PVA) thin film. The experiments were performed using continuous wave (cw) laser with a wavelength of 635 nm. The calculated nonlinear refractive index of the film, n2 = −2.79×10−7 cm2/W and nonlinear absorption coefficient, β = 6.31×10−3 cm /W. Optical limiting characteristics of the dye-doped polymer film was studied. The result reveals that Violet 1 can be a promising material for optical limiting applications.