Reverse saturable absorption and nonlinear refraction of ultrathin ZrS3 nanobelts

Abstract

The nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of a ZrS₃ nanobelt were measured with a 6.5 ns pulse laser at 532 nm. Its optical response to the incident light exhibits good optical absorptive and refractive effects, with the nonlinear absorption coefficient β = 4.42 × 10⁻¹⁰ m W⁻¹ and the nonlinear refraction coefficient γ = 5.86 × 10⁻¹⁷ m² W⁻¹ for the ZrS₃ nanobelt in ethanol dispersions at an input energy of 34.25 μJ. In addition, the β values and γ values have dependence on input energy. Results show that the ZrS₃ nanobelts have an excellent reverse saturable absorption (RSA) performance in nanosecond pulses, demonstrating that ZrS₃ nanobelts are an extraordinarily promising novel optical power limiting material. Meanwhile, compared to the pure ZrS₃, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO), composites (ZrS₃/GRO) exhibit an enhanced nonlinear absorption response at the same input energy.