Optical and nonlinear optical properties of Zn0.96Cu0.04Al2O4 nanocomposites prepared by combustion method

Abstract

Nano - sized Zn0.96Cu0.04Al2O4 powder was synthesized by microwave- assisted combustion technique. The structural and morphological properties of the title compound were characterized by Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and High-Resolution Transition Electron Microscopy (HRTEM). XRD results enunciate that the nanoparticle crystallizes in cubic spinel structure with average crystallite size (17.18 nm) and specific surface area 75.2866 (m2/g). In the HRTEM image shows spherical shape in nature. From the luminescence spectrum, the energy bandgap value was calculated as 2.973 eV. The nonlinearity studies of Zn/Cu/Al2O4 nanoparticles were measured by Z-scan technique. This technique was used to calculate the third-order nonlinear optical parameters such as nonlinear absorption coefficient (β), nonlinear refractive index (n2) and third-order nonlinear susceptibility (χ(3)).