Optical limiting in hydrogenated amorphous silicon–selenium thin films

Abstract

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon–selenium alloy thin films grown by capacitively coupled radio-frequency glow-discharge are investigated. Nonlinear absorptive effects are evaluated with the help of open aperture z-scan technique in the 525 to 580 nm spectral range. The nonlinear absorption coefficient is found to be very large and reaching the value of 5.14 × 10 − 3 cm/W at 525 nm. The origin of the optical nonlinearities is studied and found to be due mainly to two photon absorption in the case of pulsed excitation, whereas thermal effects are thought to be dominant when the sample is excited with a continuous wave laser. Optical limiting potentialities of the thin film are experimentally observed and their thresholds are found to be very low.