Optical properties of vanadium dioxide nanoparticles in nanoporous glasses

Abstract

Nanoparticles of vanadium dioxide have been synthesized in nanoporous silicate glasses with a pore size of 7 and 17nm. Static temperature hysteresis loops of the transmittance, corresponding to the semiconductor–metal phase transition in the vanadium dioxide nanoparticles, have been obtained at a wavelength of 1.15μm. The nonlinear-optical response of the nanoparticles has been measured in the visible and near-IR regions for picosecond laser pulses. The variation of the optical properties of nanoparticles in the pores of the glass at the semiconductor–metal phase transition has been numerically modelled.