Spark Discharge Synthesis and Characterization of Ge/Sn Janus Nanoparticles.

Germanium-tin nanoparticles are promising materials for near- and mid-infrared photonics thanks to their tunable optical properties and compatibility with silicon technology. This work proposes modifying the spark discharge method to produce Ge/Sn aerosol nanoparticles during the simultaneous erosion of germanium and tin electrodes. Since tin and germanium have a significant difference in the potential for electrical erosion, an electrical circuit damped for one period was developed to ensure the synthesis of Ge/Sn nanoparticles consisting of independent germanium and tin crystals of different sizes, with the ratio of the atomic fraction of tin to germanium varying from 0.08 ± 0.03 to 0.24 ± 0.07. We investigated the elemental and phase composition, size, morphology, and Raman and absorbance spectra of the nanoparticles synthesized under different inter-electrode gap voltages and the presence of additional thermal treatment directly in a gas flow at 750 °C. The research shows that the in-flow thermal treatment of aerosol-agglomerated nanoparticles produced special individual bicrystalline Janus Ge/Sn nanoparticles with an average size of 27 nm and a decreasing absorption function with a changing slope at 700 nm.

Plasmon-Enhanced Ultraviolet Luminescence in Colloid Solutions and Nanostructures Based on Aluminum and ZnO Nanoparticles.

Aluminum nanoparticles attract scientific interest as a promising low-cost material with strong plasmon resonance in the ultraviolet region, which can be used in various fields of photonics. In this paper, for the first time, ultraviolet luminescence of zinc oxide nanoparticles in colloid solutions and nanostructure films in the presence of plasmonic aluminum nanoparticles 60 nm in size with a metal core and an aluminum oxide shell were studied. Mixture colloids of ZnO and Al nanoparticles in isopropyl alcohol solution with concentrations from 0.022 to 0.44 g/L and 0.057 to 0.00285 g/L, correspondingly, were investigated. The enhancement of up to 300% of ZnO emission at 377 nm in colloids mixtures with metal nanoparticles due to formation of Al-ZnO complex agglomerates was achieved. Plasmon nanostructures with different configurations of layers, such as Al on the surface of ZnO, ZnO on Al, sandwich-like structure and samples prepared from a colloidal mixture of ZnO and Al nanoparticles, were fabricated by microplotter printing. We demonstrated that photoluminescence can be boosted 2.4-fold in nanostructures prepared from a colloidal mixture of ZnO and Al nanoparticles, whereas the sandwich-like structure gave only 1.1 times the amplification of luminescence. Calculated theoretical models of photoluminescence enhancement of ideal and weak emitters near aluminum nanoparticles of different sizes showed comparable results with the obtained experimental data.

Investigation of Nonlinear Optical Processes in Mercury Sulfide Quantum Dots.

The authors report the third-harmonic generation, nonlinear refraction, and nonlinear absorption in HgS quantum dot (QD) suspensions and films using the nanosecond and femtosecond pulses. High conversion efficiency (7 × 10-4) towards the third harmonic (TH) of the 900-1700 nm, 150 fs laser in the thin (70 nm) films containing HgS QDs deposited on the glass substrates is obtained. The authors analyze spectral dependencies of the TH, nonlinear refractive indices, and nonlinear absorption coefficients of QDs in the 500-1700 nm range and discuss the relation between the TH process and the low-order nonlinear optical properties of these quantum dots.

Third-order optical nonlinearities of exfoliated Bi2Te3 nanoparticle films in UV, visible and near-infrared ranges measured by tunable femtosecond pulses.

We characterize the nonlinear optical properties of synthesized Bi2Te3 nanoparticle-contained thin films using the tunable femtosecond laser in the spectral range of 400-1000 nm. These nanoparticles possess a strong saturable absorption and positive nonlinear refraction (-6.8×10-5 cm W-1 in the case of 500 nm, 150 fs probe pulses, and 3×10-10 cm2 W-1 in the case of 400 nm, 150 fs probe pulses, respectively). The spectral, intensity, and temporal variation of saturable absorption and nonlinear refraction of the thin films containing exfoliated Bi2Te3 nanoparticles are discussed.

Nonlinear Absorption and Refraction of Picosecond and Femtosecond Pulses in HgTe Quantum Dot Films.

We report measurements of the saturated intensities, saturable absorption, and nonlinear refraction in 70-nm thick films containing 4 nm HgTe quantum dots. We demonstrate strong nonlinear refraction and saturable absorption in the thin films using tunable picosecond and femtosecond pulses. Studies were carried out using tunable laser pulses in the range of 400-1100 nm. A significant variation of the nonlinear refraction along this spectral range was demonstrated. The maximal values of the nonlinear absorption coefficients and nonlinear refractive indices determined within the studied wavelength range were -2.4 × 10-5 cm2 W-1 (in the case of 28 ps, 700 nm probe pulses) and -3 × 10-9 cm2 W-1 (in the case of 28 ps, 400 nm probe pulses), respectively. Our studies show that HgTe quantum dots can be used in different fields e.g., as efficient emitters of high-order harmonics of ultrashort laser pulses or as laser mode-lockers.

Nonlinear Optical Characterization of InP@ZnS Core-Shell Colloidal Quantum Dots Using 532 nm, 10 ns Pulses.

InP@ZnS core-shell colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) were synthesized and characterized using the z-scan technique. The nonlinear refraction and nonlinear absorption coefficients (γ = -2 × 10-12 cm2 W-1, ß = 4 × 10-8 cm W-1) of these CQDs were determined using 10 ns, 532 nm pulses. The saturable absorption (ß = -1.4 × 10-9 cm W-1, Isat = 3.7 × 108 W cm-2) in the 3.5 nm CQDs dominated at small intensities of the probe pulses (I ≤ 7 × 107 W cm-2) followed by reverse saturable absorption at higher laser intensities. We report the optical limiting studies using these CQDs showing the suppression of propagated nanosecond radiation in the intensity range of 8 × 107-2 × 109 W cm-2. The role of nonlinear scattering is considered using off-axis z-scan scheme, which demonstrated the insignificant role of this process along the whole range of used intensities of 532 nm pulses. We discuss the thermal nature of the negative nonlinear refraction in the studied species.

Synthesis and low-order optical nonlinearities of colloidal HgSe quantum dots in the visible and near infrared ranges.

We synthesize colloidal HgSe quantum dots and characterize their nonlinear refraction and nonlinear absorption using a Nd:YAG laser and its second harmonic. The 7.5 nm quantum dots were synthesized using the hot-injection method. The nonlinear absorption (ß = 9×10-7 cm W-1) and negative nonlinear refraction (γ = -5×10-12 cm2 W-1) coefficients of colloidal quantum dots were determined using the 10 ns, 532 nm laser radiation. The joint influence of above processes was realized at a higher intensity of probe pulses. In the case of 10 ns, 1064 nm radiation, only negative nonlinear refraction dominated during z-scans of these quantum dots. The studies of optical limiting using two laser sources demonstrated the effectiveness of this process at 532 nm. The role of nonlinear scattering is analyzed. We discuss the mechanisms responsible for the nonlinear refraction processes in colloidal HgSe quantum dots.

Propane-1,2-diols from dilactides, oligolactides, or poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA): from plastic waste to chiral bulk chemicals.

The preparation of racemic or enantioenriched propane-1,2-diol from dilactides, oligolactides, or poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) is described. The transformation is carried out as tandem reactions in MeOH, covering hydrolysis and subsequent hydrogenation by using copper chromite as a catalyst. The starting material present undesired side products of the PLLA synthesis or PLLA waste.

Solvent dependent asymmetric hydrogenation with self-assembled catalysts: a combined catalytic, NMR- and IR-study.

For the first time the hydrogen bond based structure of self-aggregated Rh-phosphine complexes in fluorinated alcohols was directly determined, which gives a rationale for the high enantioselectivity observed in the asymmetric hydrogenation.