Ensemble and individual characterization of the nonlinear optical properties of ZnO and BaTiO3 nanocrystals.

Ronan Le Dantec (1) , Yannick Mugnier (1) , Gnon Djanta , Luigi Bonacina , Jérôme Extermann (2) , Laurent Badie (1) , Cécile Joulaud (1) , Matthias Gerrmann , Daniel Rytz (3) , Jean-Pierre Wolf (4) , Christine Galez (1)

1 SYMME - Laboratoire SYstèmes et Matériaux pour la MEcatronique
2 Institute of Atomic Physics
3 FEE
4 GAP - Group of Applied Physics [Geneva]

Hyper Rayleigh scattering (HRS) and second harmonic (SH) microscopy were used to study the second order nonlinear optical response of ZnO and BaTiO3 nanocrystals, which have been recently proposed as new markers for bioimaging. HRS, combined with dynamic light scattering, was first used to retrieve hyperpolarizabilities and nonlinear coefficients of both type of nanocrystals. The results indicate that the main contribution to the SH signal is related to the bulk noncentrosymmetric structure of the particles. Successively, we carried out the inspection of individual nanocrystals by SH microscopy, interpreting their response using the nonlinear coefficients deduced from HRS.

Domaines: Génie mécanique [physics.class-ph]; Génie mécanique [physics.class-ph]

Ronan Le Dantec, Yannick Mugnier, Gnon Djanta, Luigi Bonacina, Jérôme Extermann, et al.. Ensemble and individual characterization of the nonlinear optical properties of ZnO and BaTiO3 nanocrystals.. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2011, 115 (31), pp. 15140-15146. ⟨hal-00633571⟩