Z-Scan Study on a Silver Nanoparticles Embedded TeO<sub>2</sub>-SiO<sub>2</sub> Glass Prepared by Sol-Gel Method

Abstract

An inserted type Ag/TeO2-SiO2composite gel glass was prepared through silver nanoparticles embedded in TeO2-SiO2composite gel. The silver nanoparticles were prepared previously by ascorbic acid deoxygenates AgNO3solution and mixed into TeO2-SiO2composite sol which was prepared in aqueous system using TeO2and tetraethoxysilane as precursors, and then the inserted type Ag/TeO2-SiO2composite gel glass was produced through sol aging and molding. The silver nanoparticles which dispersed in the TeO2-SiO2gel substrate made the composite glass having excellent nonlinear optical properties. The nonlinear optical parameters was tested by Z-scan technique using 15 ps laser pulses at the wavelength of 532 nm. The surface morphology was characterized by SEM. The results identified that spherical Ag nanoparticles with the size about 50-100 nm dispersed in the TeO2-SiO2gel. In the Ag/TeO2-SiO2material, the doped structure and the trigonal bipyramid structure of TeO2was the important factor for the excellent nonlinear optical performance.