Third-Order Nonlinear Optical Properties of Layered Type Hybridized Thin Films Consisting of Oriented Polydiacetylene Nanofibers and Silver Nanoparticles

Abstract

Layered type hybridized thin films, which were composed of oriented polydiacetylene (PDA) nanofibers (NFs) and silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs), have been fabricated successfully by means of the alternative processes of the layer-by-layer (LbL) method and the convective assembly method. The wavelength dispersion of third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) susceptibility, χ(3)(ω), and the corresponding figure of merit (FOM) have been evaluated correctly by the combined analysis with femtosecond pump–probe spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry. It has become apparent that both χ(3)(ω) and FOM were enhanced evidently in the layered type hybridized thin films under the optimized condition of a suitably adsorbed amount of Ag NPs, compared with random thin films of PDA NFs and/or oriented thin films of PDA NFs, because of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect from Ag NPs as well as the orientation effect of PDA NFs. This would provide a new design guide for organic NLO hybrid nanomaterials towar...