Nano-Ag:polymeric composite material for ultrafast photonic crystal all-optical switching

Abstract

We report a nanocomposite material possessing large nonlinear optical coefficients and fast response simultaneously, which is made of poly[2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] doped with Ag nanoparticles. Under resonant excitation of the polymer matrix and Ag nanoparticles, the value of the nonlinear susceptibility reaches the order of 10−6 esu. A nonlinear response time of 35 ps is achieved due to the energy transfer from organic molecules to Ag nanoparticles. An ultrafast photonic crystal all-optical switching with an ultralow pump intensity of 0.2 MW/cm2 is realized.