Ultrafast third-order nonlinear optical properties of graphene in aqueous solution and polyvinyl alcohol film

Abstract

The ultrafast third-order nonlinear optical properties of graphene in both suspension and film status are studied using femtosecond time resolved optical Kerr gate technique at 800nm. The third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility is 4.2×10−14esu for solution of 0.010mg/ml. The corresponding second-order hyperpolarizability is 3.4×10−32esu per carbon atom in graphene, which is the largest among the carbon family. The graphene embed in the polymer matrix of polyvinyl alcohol film (OD=0.43) exhibits strong ultrafast nonlinear optical response of 3.3×10−12esu and shows its potential application in nonlinear optics.