Controlled plasmon-induced nonlinear absorption and optical limiting in Al/PVP composite nanofibers.

The effect of aluminum (Al) concentration on the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band position of aluminum/polyvinylpyrrolidone (Al/PVP) composite nanofibers was investigated to strengthen nonlinear absorption (NLA) and widen its spectral range. With increasing Al content in PVP nanofibers, the SPR band was shifted towards excitation wavelength and an improved NLA response was achieved. The NLA response was examined both experimentally, by conducting Z-scan experiments, and theoretically, using two models. In the first model, the contributions of one-photon absorption (OPA), two-photon absorption (TPA), excited state absorption (ESA) and saturated absorption (SA) are considered. The second model, on the other hand, is a model that is widely used in the literature, and while taking into account the contributions of OPA and TPA, it neglects the ESA. The first model provides more accurate results due to the high concentration of free carriers in the samples examined. In order to reveal the contribution of Al to the nonlinear absorption, a laser excitation wavelength of 532 nm was chosen to minimize both the defect-assisted sequential and genuine two-photon absorption contributions of PVP. While the nonlinear absorption of pure PVP is quite weak, the NLA performance of Al/PVP nanofibers significantly improved as the Al content increased. As the amount of Al increased, the aggregation effect increased and a broadening and red shift in the SPR band were observed in the plasmonic behavior. This indicates a decreasing interparticle distance in Al particles. The sample with the highest amount of Al is anticipated as a potential candidate for optical limiting (OL) applications due to its superior NLA performance and SPR band furthest towards the near infrared (NIR) region, allowing a wider range of wavelength set to be used in OL applications.

Synthesis, characterization and dielectric properties of SnO2 thin films.

SnO2 thin films have been grown on glass substrates using Successive Ionic Layer Adsorption and Reaction (SILAR) method at room temperature and ambient pressure. The annealing temperature effect on the structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of SnO2 thin films has been investigated. The X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) studies have showed that all the films have exhibited polycrystalline nature with tetragonal structure and have been covered well on glass substrates. The crystalline and surface properties of the films have improved with increasing annealing temperature. The band gap values have been changed from 3.73 to 3.66eV depending on the annealing temperature. The refractive index (n), optical static and high frequency dielectric constants (εo, ε∞) values have been calculated as a function of the annealing temperature. The resistivity values of the films have changed between 10(-1) - 10(-3)Ωcm with annealing temperature and light at room temperature.