Determination of third-order optical absorptive nonlinearity of ZnO nanoparticles by Z-scan technique

A sensitive single-beam technique for measuring the nonlinear absorption coefficient of ZnO nanoparticles is reported here. The transmittance T(z) of the sample is measured by open aperture Z-scan technique as the sample is moved along the propagation path(z) of a focused Gaussian laser beam. The ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by wet chemical method, by mixing zinc acetate dehydrate and NaOH in ethanol is a clear transparent colloidal solution. The average size of ZnO nanoparticles is 6nm as confirmed by TEM analysis. Two-photon absorption of colloidal solutions of ZnO nanoparticles in ethanol is investigated by the Z-scan method using the nanosecond pulses from the second harmonics of Nd:YAG laser (532nm). The value of β for ZnO dispersed in ethanol extracted from the Z-scan data are 2.1cm/GW. ZnO nanoparticles of various sizes were embedded in PVA matrix on glass substrate and size dependence on β value was analyzed. The high value of two photon absorption coefficient (β) demonstrate that ZnO nanoparticle is a potential material for optical limiting applications.