Issue 94, 2016

Improved third-order optical nonlinearity and optical limiting behaviour of (nanospindle and nanosphere) zinc ferrite decorated reduced graphene oxide under continuous and ultrafast laser excitation

Abstract

Nanohybrids consisting of uniform nanospheres and nanospindles of zinc ferrite attached to reduced graphene oxide were prepared by hydrothermal reaction. Zinc ferrite decorated reduced graphene oxide exhibited enhanced nonlinear absorption, refraction and optical limiting (OL) action under continuous wave (532 nm, 50 mW) and ultrafast (800 nm, 150 fs) excitation. The enhancement can possibly be attributed to the synergistic effect stemming from the observed reverse saturable absorption and self-defocusing in the material. The role of defects in improving the nonlinear optical (NLO) performance of ZnFe2O4–rGO was explained with the aid of Raman spectroscopy and ground state absorption studies. Using fs and cw excitation, the estimated nonlinear absorption coefficient [γ3PA(fs) = 4.0 × 10−12 m W−1, β(cw) = 6.5 × 10−5 m W−1], nonlinear refractive index [n2(fs) = 4.2 × 10−18 m2 W−1, n2(cw) = 4.7 × 10−12 m2 W−1] and third order nonlinear optical (NLO) susceptibility [χ (3) (fs) = 1.9 × 10−15 esu, χ (3) (cw) = 4.2 × 10−6 esu] of nanospindle ZnFe2O4–rGO were found to be higher than those of its other counter parts. The estimated NLO parameters were found to be higher than those of other known OL materials such as functionalized hydrogen exfoliated graphene, CdO. Thus zinc ferrite decorated rGO nanostructures with proficient NLO coefficients have potential scope for utilizing them as smart materials for OL applications.

Graphical abstract: Improved third-order optical nonlinearity and optical limiting behaviour of (nanospindle and nanosphere) zinc ferrite decorated reduced graphene oxide under continuous and ultrafast laser excitation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 avg 2016
Accepted
14 sep 2016
First published
14 sep 2016

RSC Adv., 2016,6, 91083-91092

Improved third-order optical nonlinearity and optical limiting behaviour of (nanospindle and nanosphere) zinc ferrite decorated reduced graphene oxide under continuous and ultrafast laser excitation

M. Saravanan, T. C. Sabari Girisun, G. Vinitha and S. Venugopal Rao, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 91083 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA21428B

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