Nonlinear Refractive Index Coefficient Research Articles

Cu role in the optical constants of Cu2x Ge40−x S60−x films for optoelectronics and photovoltaic applications

Physical characteristics of ternary glasses based on sulphur, are the main topic of the investigation. Cu2xGe40−xS60−x (0 ≤ x ≤ 8 at. %) chalcogenides was fabricated using the conventional melt-quench method. With an increase in Cu-concentration, the glass's density (ρ) increased but the molar volume (Vm) decreased. Transmittance and reflection measurements of the films were made over 0.35–2.5 µm spectral-range. The estimated envelopes (RM, Rm) of the reflection spectrum might be used to determine the complex refractive index and the film thickness. With increasing Cu-concentrations, the refractive index (n) increased while the optical gap (Eg) decreased. Cu-concentrations affects the film's nonlinear refractive index (n2), 3ed-susceptibility (χ(3)) and nonlinear absorption coefficient (χa) were investigated. In Cu2xGe40−xS60−x system, the n2, χ(3), and χa values increase with the Cu-additions. Finally, the films analyzed here exhibit interesting properties for application in various optical devices.

Optical Limiting Methods by Z-Scan Technique for Non-Linear Optical Absorption of PVC/TiO2 Nanocomposite

To further our grasp of photonics technology, our work focuses on thin-film PVC/TiO2 nanocomposites. Nanocomposites composites were created by combining TiO2 nanoparticles with Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) as the polymer matrix. The thin film was fabricated using the casting method. Spectral analysis was used to determine the absorbance parameters and compute the linear absorption coefficient. The nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficient were measured using a single beam Z-scan approach with a CW diode pumped solid state (DPSS) laser (Coherent Verdi-V5, 532 nm) acting as the excitation laser at 50mW. Peak absorption was measured at 280 nm, and as the percentage of TiO2 nanoparticles grew, more absorption was seen. The nonlinear absorption coefficient was determined to be 1x10−5 cm/W at (0.5342, 1.3585, 1.5999, and 0.0253). The poor structure arising from all of the sample morphologies affects the materials' NLO absorption. Nonetheless, they seem like good options for optical limiting applications given the positive value of NLO absorption.

Measurement of the nonlinear refractive index of highly scattering aerosols

The quality of air significantly impacts both the quality of life and the health of individuals. Femtosecond laser filament-induced nonlinear spectroscopy effectively measures both aerosol concentration and composition. Specifically, the nonlinear refractive index coefficient of the atmosphere directly influences the nonlinear propagation of femtosecond lasers in the air. The presence of aerosol particles in the atmosphere, particularly water droplets, may affect this nonlinear refractive index coefficient. However, the measurement of the nonlinear refractive index coefficient of highly scattering aerosols has not yet been reported. In this paper, a method to obtain the nonlinear refractive index coefficients of aerosols based on spectral changes is presented. Experiment measured the n2 coefficient of the air and water vapor aerosols respectively. Experimental results show that the n2 coefficients are 2.5 × 10−19 cm2/W and 2.4 × 10−19 cm2/W respectively for air with incident energy of 48 μJ and 68 μJ, the n2 coefficient are 2.5 × 10−19 cm2/W and 2.3 × 10−19 cm2/W respectively for aerosol with attenuation coefficients of 0.029 dB/cm. When the concentration of aerosols was increased to an attenuation coefficient of 0.045 dB/cm, the nonlinear refractive index coefficient of the aerosols was 3.1 × 10−19 cm2/W. The experimental results indicated that low concentrations of aerosols did not affect the nonlinear refractive index coefficient of air, but as the concentration increased to a certain level, the nonlinear refractive index coefficient of air increased. This work provides a simpler and faster technical route for measuring the n2 coefficient of gaseous media, offers a new approach to the problem of measuring the nonlinear refractive index of thick, highly scattering media, and addresses the shortcomings of the z-scan.

Boosting third-order optical nonlinearity in ITO/Au multilayer films via interfacial effects

We present the enhancement of third-order optical nonlinearity in indium tin oxide (ITO)/Au multilayer films via interfacial effects. The overall thickness of prepared ITO and Au layer was kept as 200 nm and 14 nm, respectively, and thus multilayers are 214 nm, i.e., for the sandwich structure ITO/Au/ITO, the thickness of ITO and Au is 100 nm and 14 nm, respectively, while the thickness of ITO and Au is 40 nm and 3.5 nm in the nine-layer films composed of five layers of ITO and four layers of Au. The measured nonlinear refractive index (n2) and absorption coefficient (β) of the multilayers rise as the number of layers increases. The maximum n2 and β in the nine-layer film are 2.6×10−14 m2/W and −3.7×10−8 m/W, which are 3.8 and 2.3 times larger than the values in the pure ITO film, respectively. Such enhancement of optical nonlinearity as the number of layers increases originates from the increase of carrier concentrations in multilayers due to contact of metals/semiconductors (interfacial effects), not following the traditional effective media theory and epsilon-near-zero effect. The results pave a way to modulate the optical nonlinearity in special metal-dielectric multilayers of interfacial effects and indicates the promising applications in nonlinear photonics.

Ultrafast Four‐Wave Mixing Phase‐Matched by Transient Nonlinear Phase Modulation in a MAPbBr3 Single Crystal

AbstractA degenerated four‐wave‐mixing (FWM) process in single‐crystal (CH3NH3)PbBr3 (MAPbBr3) is reported, where 150‐fs laser pulses at 1.33 µm are employed as the pump. Two pump photons interact with a single crystal, producing another two photons with higher and lower energies, respectively. One of the FWM‐generation sidebands is tuned from ∼1.23 to 1.21 µm and the other from ∼1.43 to 1.48 µm for the center wavelength, as the pump fluence is increased from 2.6 to 11.69 mJ cm−2. The self‐phase modulation induced by the strong pump pulses through the optical Kerr effect is responsible for the tuning dynamics. Transient spectroscopy not only verifies the FWM scheme for the interacting waves but also reveals the interference dynamics between the FWM‐generated sidebands and the probe pulse. In particular, the angular dependence of the FWM generation supplies direct evidence for the phase‐matching geometry. Using experimental data, a nonlinear refractive index coefficient of 1.19 × 10−14 cm2 W−1 at 1.33 µm for single‐crystal MAPbBr3 is determined.

Investigation of thermally induced nonlinear optical response of polyurethane-graphene composite by SSPM method

We conducted a study on composites made of polyurethane and graphene (PU-G). We synthesized these composites and then examined their far-field diffraction patterns at various concentrations of dimethylformamide (DMF) using the spatial self-phase modulation (SSPM) method. By analyzing the intensity-dependent far-field ring patterns, we were able to estimate the samples' thermally induced nonlinear refractive index and thermo-optical coefficient. We found that these variables, as well as other observable phenomena such as the “diffraction ring collapse effect” and “variation in nonlinear refractive index,” depended on the sample's concentration rate. Our results indicate that the laser-induced thermal effect is a significant factor in the SSPM phenomena observed in our experiments. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the PU/G combination in DMF has promising nonlinear optical properties that could be beneficial in a variety of nonlinear optics applications.

Iron nanoparticles supported on graphene nanosheets by pulsed laser ablation method in deionized water

In this study, pulsed laser ablation process (PLA) in deionized water solution was used to prepare graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets, wustite (FeO) nanoparticles and GO based FeO nanoparticles. The effect of composition ratio of materials on their optical properties was studied. The structural properties of the materials were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. According to the TEM results, FeO nanoparticles were well deposited on GO nanosheets. The XRD results demonstrated the formation of Fe and wustite (FeO) phase of iron oxide nanoparticles. In the XRD analysis of graphene sample, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets were identified. The absorption measurement of the samples in colloidal state was performed using a UV–vis single beam spectrophotometer in the wavelength range of 250 to 800 nm. The higher and the lower absorbance belonged to 1.4 ml GO − 0.6 ml FeO composition and GO nanosheets, respectively. The linear optical properties of the samples, including the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function, refractive index, extinction coefficient and absorption coefficient were calculated using the spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) method. Leng oscillator was used as the optical model in SE method. Also, the energy band gap of the samples was calculated using Tauc relation, in which the lower and the higher energy band gaps were obtained for GO nanosheets (3.40 eV) and FeO nanoparticles (4.65 eV), respectively. Furthermore, the nonlinear optical properties of GO based FeO nanoparticles were investigated by Z-scan measurement. The nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficient were obtained in the order of 10−8 cm2 W−1 and 10–4 cm W−1, respectively.

The nonlinear optical properties of meso-substituted porphyrins using spatial self-phase modulation

Herein, we studied the nonlinear optical properties of four meso-substituted porphyrins (H2MHTPP, H2THTPP, H2DETPP, and H2TETPP) by the spatial self-phase modulation (SSPM) method, using CW lasers with wavelengths of 532 nm and 780 nm. All samples exhibit strong nonlinear response due to the thermal optical nonlinear effect at 532 nm, which corresponds to the strong absorption band. In addition, four porphyrin samples were calculated that have nonlinear refractive index coefficients of the same order of magnitude (10−10 m2/W) at 532 nm. However, four porphyrins exhibited different optical nonlinear responses affected by the type and numbers of peripheral substituents at 780 nm. This work is of significance for reasonably adjusting the structure of compounds and improving their third-order nonlinear optical coefficients.

Optical fractional solitonic structures to decoupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation arising in dual-core optical fibers

This paper explores a specific class of equations that model the propagation of optical pulses in dual-core optical fibers. The decoupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation with properties of M fractional derivatives is considered as the governing equation. The proposed model consists of group-velocity mismatch and dispersion, nonlinear refractive index and linear coupling coefficient. Different types of solutions, including mixed, dark, singular, bright-dark, bright, complex and combined solitons are extracted by using the integration methods known as fractional modified Sardar subequation method and modified F-expansion method. Optical soliton propagation in optical fibers is currently a subject of great interest due to the multiple prospects for ultrafast signal routing systems and short light pulses in communications. In nonlinear dispersive media, optical solitons are stretched electromagnetic waves that maintain their intensity due to a balance between the effects of dispersion and nonlinearity. Furthermore, hyperbolic, periodic and exponential solutions are generated. A fractional complex transformation is applied to reduce the governing model into the ordinary differential equation and then by the assistance of balance principle the methods are used, depending upon the balance number. Also, we plot the different graphs with the associated parameter values to visualize the solutions behaviours with different parameter values. The findings of this work will help to identify and clarify some novel soliton solutions and it is expected that the solutions obtained will play a vital role in the fields of physics and engineering.

Optical non-linearities and applications of ZnS phosphors

Optical non-linearities play a crucial role in enabling efficient and ultrafast switching applications that are essential for next-generation photonic devices. ZnS phosphor material produces the best results in terms of increased luminescence quantum yield when doped with certain impurities. Nevertheless, the investigation of the third-order non-linear optical susceptibility of the phosphor materials can be exploited for various switching applications. In this regard, we review the recent advancements in the investigation of non-linear optical properties of ZnS phosphors, where the knowledge of absorption and refraction is utilized in various optical and detector applications. Furthermore, the review highlights strategies employed to enhance the non-linear optical response of phosphor materials as well as a general discussion of an attosecond optical switching scheme which can be used to fabricate devices with petahertz speeds. Consequently, we provide a solution to the unsolved problem of the significant extension of optical limiting applications to switching applications by developing design strategies to manipulate conventional ZnS phosphor material. The potential challenges and future prospects of utilizing phosphor materials for switching applications are also addressed. The strategies for manipulating ZnS phosphor can be generalized for a broad range of other materials by minimizing linear and non-linear losses, while enhancing the values of the non-linear refractive index coefficient. We propose that the figure-of-merit of ZnS material can be enhanced by using a suitable combination of pump and probe wavelength values, which can be useful for optical switching applications.

Facile Z-scan determination of nonlinear refractive index and absorption coefficient of dye-doped polymer film

Facile Z-scan determination of nonlinear refractive index and absorption coefficient of dye-doped polymer film

Low-power Z-scan study of nonlinear refractive index and absorption coefficient of acid blue 129 dye-doped polymer thin film

Low-power Z-scan study of nonlinear refractive index and absorption coefficient of acid blue 129 dye-doped polymer thin film

Enhanced optical nonlinearity of epsilon-near-zero metasurface by quasi-bound state in the continuum

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) provide a powerful way to enhance the nonlinear properties of materials, epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials are considered as promising candidates with strong nonlinearities. However, the realization of BIC based on ENZ materials in the near-infrared (NIR) is very challenging due to the large loss in the NIR. Here, a high-quality quasi-BIC based on the ENZ metasurface is proposed for the first time, which is composed of patterned ENZ films embedded in a dielectric-metal hybrid structure, and realizes destructive interference between the Berreman mode and photonic mode to form the Friedrich-Wintergen BIC (FW-BIC). The electric field is strongly confined in the ENZ film, resulting in considerable field enhancement, and the nonlinear refractive index coefficient is 1.63 × 10−12 m2/W, which is three orders of magnitude larger than that of the ITO film. The instantaneous response time is 600 fs and extremely high modulation speed up to the THz level. Benefiting from the perfect absorption and narrow linewidth of quasi-BIC and the change in refractive index of the metasurface induced by Kerr nonlinearity, the absolute modulation is from near-zero to 92% with an extinction ratio of 23.2 dB. It provides a promising platform for the development of integrated ultrafast high-speed photonics.

Role of vacuum annealing on the structural, optical properties and Dc conductivity of titanium (IV) phthalocyanine dichloride thin films

The present work elucidates the significant alterations in several physical characteristics of thermally evaporated TiPcCl2 thin films resulting from vacuum annealing at 373 and 473 K. The structure, surface morphologies, and molecular structure of TiPcCl2 thin films were studied using x-ray Diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR). Results confirmed nanostructure attributes of as-deposited and annealed films, as well as the phase transition in TiPcCl2 was observed during annealing. The optical constants of as-deposited and annealed films in the wavelength range of 200–2500 nm were determined using spectrophotometric techniques. The indirect optical energy gap was observed to diminish with increasing annealing temperature due to enhanced crystallinity of thin films. Using the single oscillator model, the dispersion of the refractive index at normal dispersion was investigated. The third-order nonlinear susceptibility, χ(3), the nonlinear refractive index n2 and the nonlinear absorption coefficient, βc, were calculated and then discussed for both the as-deposited and annealed films. The electrical conductivity of TiPcCl2 exhibited increased as the temperature increased, suggesting its characteristic as a conventional organic semiconductor. The parameters of Mott’s model were obtained and discussed under low-temperature conditions afterward. Conclusions derived from this research indicate that the unique properties of vacuum annealing TiPcCl2 have great promise for future use in optoelectronic systems.

Solvent-Driven Variations of Third-Order Nonlinear Thermo-Optical Features of Glutaric Acid-Directed Self-Healing Supramolecular Ni(II) Metallogels.

The generation of solvent-directed self-healing supramolecular Ni(II) metallogels of glutaric acid (i.e., Ni-Glu-DMF and Ni-Glu-DMSO) is described in this article. Polar aprotic solvents like N,N'-dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) are separately entrapped into the Ni(II)-acetate salt and glutaric acid-mediated networks to attain the semisolid flexible scaffolds. The gel nature of the fabricated materials is experimentally proven through different rheological tests such as amplitude sweep, frequency sweep, and thixotropic (time sweep) measurements. The self-repairing strategy and load-bearing features of the synthesized metallogel are studied in this work. The different supramolecular noncovalent interactions working within the soft scaffold are clearly explored. The formation strategy and the microstructural features of these synthesized metallogels are scrutinized through a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy study and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) morphological analyses. The FT-IR spectroscopy observation displays a considerable amount of shifting of the infrared (IR) peaks of the xerogel samples of both the metallogels Ni-Glu-DMF and Ni-Glu-DMSO. The electrospray ionization (ESI)-mass spectroscopy result demonstrates the plausible construction of the metallogel network. In order to examine the nonlinear optical characteristics of the two synthesized self-healing metallogels Ni-Glu-DMSO and Ni-Glu-DMF, Z-scan measurements are carried out with a continuous wave (CW) diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser at 532 nm. The nonlinear refractive index, nonlinear absorption coefficient, thermo-optical coefficient, and third-order susceptibility of these metallogels were evaluated by analyzing the experimental data from the Sheik-Bahae formalism. The nonlinear thermo-optical study reveals that these solvent-dependent metallogels show negative signs of nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficient. The figure of merit calculated for these compounds shows good agreement for their use in nonlinear photonic devices.

Measurement of Non-Linear Optical Absorption of PVC/TiO2 Nanocomposite via Z-Scan Technique for Optical Limiting

Abstract: This research focuses on PVC/TiO2 nanocomposites in the form of thin films in order to expand our understanding of photonics technology. For fabrication of the thin films, the casting method was used with nanocomposites composite were developed by mixing TiO2 nanoparticles with Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) as the polymer matrix. The absorbance parameters were determined using spectral analysis, and the linear absorption coefficient was computed. A single beam Z-scan technique was used to evaluate the nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficient via a CW diode pumped solid state (DPSS) laser (Coherent Verdi-V5, 532 nm) was employed as the excitation laser at 50mW. Peak absorption was detected at 280 nm with increasing absorption observed as the proportion of TiO2 nanoparticles increased. The nonlinear absorption coefficient was found at (0.5342, 1.3585,1.5999, and 0.0253) 1ݔ 10−5 cm/W. All of the sample morphology resulting poor structure which then affect the NLO absorption of the materials. However, with the positive value of NLO absorption, they appear to be promising candidates for optical limiting applications.

Crystal structure, DFT study, Hirshfeld analysis and optical third order nonlinear properties of new 1-naphthylaminium hydrogen fumarate salt

This study reports the crystal structure and its supramolecular framework, quantum chemical calculations and nonlinear optical properties of 1-naphthylaminium hydrogen fumarate salt. The supramolecular self-assembly of fumarate anions and 1-naphthylaminium cation of the salt is primarily stabilized by N-H…O, O-H…O and C-H…O interactions. The construction of strong hydrogen bonds such as N-H…O and O-H…O produces two-dimensional corrugated sheet parallel to (010) plane, which resembles a supramolecular grid type architecture in the crystal structure. Two weak C-H…O interactions interlink the parallel (010) supramolecular sheet generating a three-dimensional molecular network. The molecular stability of the experimentally determined structure is theoretically optimized by DFT quantum chemical calculations using 6-31G(++) basis set. The relative molecular interaction-based charge distribution and the chemical reactivity of the titled salt were identified using electrostatic potential contouring and HOMO-LUMO maps. The crystal structure is subjected to Hirshfeld surface analysis to gain better understanding on the intermolecular interactions exhibited by the molecules. The optical nonlinearities of the titled salt are examined using Z-scan experimentation, the optical nonlinear refractive index and optical nonlinear absorption coefficient is estimated by closed and open aperture Z-scan methods. The observed nonlinear values are quite comparable to the conventional optical nonlinear values.

Intensity-Dependent Optical Response of 2D LTMDs Suspensions: From Thermal to Electronic Nonlinearities.

The nonlinear optical (NLO) response of photonic materials plays an important role in the understanding of light-matter interaction as well as pointing out a diversity of photonic and optoelectronic applications. Among the recently studied materials, 2D-LTMDs (bi-dimensional layered transition metal dichalcogenides) have appeared as a beyond-graphene nanomaterial with semiconducting and metallic optical properties. In this article, we review most of our work in studies of the NLO response of a series of 2D-LTMDs nanomaterials in suspension, using six different NLO techniques, namely hyper Rayleigh scattering, Z-scan, photoacoustic Z-scan, optical Kerr gate, and spatial self-phase modulation, besides the Fourier transform nonlinear optics technique, to infer the nonlinear optical response of semiconducting MoS2, MoSe2, MoTe2, WS2, semimetallic WTe2, ZrTe2, and metallic NbS2 and NbSe2. The nonlinear optical response from a thermal to non-thermal origin was studied, and the nonlinear refraction index and nonlinear absorption coefficient, where present, were measured. Theoretical support was given to explain the origin of the nonlinear responses, which is very dependent on the spectro-temporal regime of the optical source employed in the studies.

Low-Threshold Optical Bistability Based on Photonic Crystal Fabry–Perot Cavity with Three-Dimensional Dirac Semimetal

In this paper, we investigate theoretically the tunable low threshold optical bistability (OB) in the terahertz range based on photonic crystals’ Fabry–Perot (FP) cavity with a three-dimensional Dirac semimetal (3D DSM). On the one hand, a 3D DSM with a high nonlinear refractive index coefficient creates conditions for the generation of OB. Additionally, the finite film thickness of 3D DSMs leads to significantly a enhanced interaction volume compared to graphene, which allows easier preparation and has stable properties. On the other hand, the resonance of the FP cavity plays a positive role in promoting the tunable low-threshold OB. It was found that the OB threshold and hysteresis curve can be continuously adjusted by manipulating the Fermi energy and relaxation times of a 3D DSM. Additionally, the bistable curve of the composite structure is also closely related to the angle of incident light. Through parameter optimization, OB with a threshold approaching 105 V/m can be obtained. The photonic crystal’s FP cavity with a 3D DSM structure provides a feasible way to achieve low-threshold OB and a building block for future integrated all-optical devices.

Evaluation of surface roughness, linear and nonlinear optical parameters of a mixture of sudan black b and polymer films for optical limiting application

A film of a mixture of sudan black b (SBB) dye and a poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) is fabricated by casting. X-ray diffraction measurement proves the SBB/PMMA film's structure is amorphous. The scanning probe microscope confirmed that the SBB/PMMA film has a good quality and homogeneous surface. The SBB/PMMA film's optical constants are estimated via the transmittance, absorbance, and reflectance spectra. The indirect optical band gap is calculated and found to be 1.49 eV. The single oscillator energy, Eo, the dispersion energy, Ed, and the static refractive index, no, are computed by using Wemple and DiDomenico model. Semi-empirical relation, Z-scan, and diffraction ring patterns are three methods used to determine the film's nonlinear refractive index value. The SBB/PMMA film exhibited a high nonlinear refractive index (n2 = 7.83 × 10−7 cm2/W) and nonlinear absorption coefficient (β = 9.3 × 10−3 cm/W), calculated by the Z-scan method. Under a continuous wave laser beam, the property of the optical limiting of the film is examined. The film exhibited optical limiting properties with a limiting threshold value of 5 mW.