Synthesis and nonlinear optical properties of zirconia-protected gold nanoparticles embedded in sol–gel derived silica glass

Antoine Le Rouge (1) , Hicham El Hamzaoui (1) , Bruno Capoen (1) , Remy Bernard (1) , Odile Cristini-Robbe (1) , Gilbert Martinelli (1) , C. Cassagne (2) , Georges Boudebs (3)

1 PhLAM - Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Atomes et Molécules - UMR 8523
2 GeM - Institut de Recherche en Génie Civil et Mécanique
3 POMA - Propriétés Optiques des Matériaux et Applications

A new approach to dope a silica glass with gold nanoparticles (GNPs) is presented. It consisted in embedding zirconia-coated GNPs in a silica sol to form a doped silica gel. Then, the sol-doped nanoporous silica xerogel is densified leading to the formation of a glass monolith. The spectral position and shape of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) reported around 520 nm remain compatible with small spherical GNPs in a silica matrix. The saturable absorption behavior of this gold/zirconia-doped silica glass has been evidenced by Z-scan technique. A second-order nonlinear absorption coefficient β of about −13.7 cmGW−1 has been obtained at a wavelength near the SPR of the GNPs.

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Antoine Le Rouge, Hicham El Hamzaoui, Bruno Capoen, Remy Bernard, Odile Cristini-Robbe, et al.. Synthesis and nonlinear optical properties of zirconia-protected gold nanoparticles embedded in sol–gel derived silica glass. Materials Research Express, 2015, 2 (5), pp.055009. ⟨10.1088/2053-1591/2/5/055009⟩. ⟨hal-01153981⟩