Studying the optical properties of silver nitrates using a pulsed laser deposition technique

Abstract

The optical properties of silver nitrates aqueous solution were investigated at different concentrations (1 x10-1, 1 x 10-2, 5 x 10-2 and 1 x 10-3 M). As well thin silver nitrate films of various thickness (210.76, 223.12, 241.56 and287.87 nm) were prepared via pulse laser deposition (PLD) technique using different laser pulses (250, 200, 150, 100 Pulses). Several optical characterizations were studied such as optical absorption properties, optical energy gap, absorption coefficient, extinction coefficient, index of refraction, reflectivity, transmission, optical conductivity and the real and imaginary electrical insulation constant. The results showed that, as one might expect, the absorption increases with increasing concentration of silver nitrate, while the transmission decreases. Furthermore, it has been observed that there is an increase in the absorption coefficient, extinction coefficient and coefficient of refraction as a function of photon energy with increasing the thickness of thin film, while the transmittance decreases with increasing thickness of the film. Also, the linear optical properties were calculated as a function of photon energy and found to increase with increasing thickness of the film. The optical energy gap was calculated for the allowed direct transfer of thin films different thicknesses and was found to decrease with increasing thickness.