Nonlinear optical properties of Au/ZnO nanoparticle arrays

The triangular-shaped Au/ZnO nanoparticle arrays were fabricated on fused quartz substrate using nanosphere lithography. The structural characterization of the Au/ZnO nanoparticle arrays was investigated by atomic force microscopy. The absorption peak due to the surface plasmon resonance of Au particles at the wavelength of about 570 nm was observed. The nonlinear optical properties of the nanoparticle arrays were measured using the z-scan method at a wavelength of 532 nm with pulse duration of 10 ns. The real and imaginary part of third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility, Re chi((3)) and Im chi((3)), were determined to be 1.15 x 10(-6) and -5.36 x 10(-7) esu, respectively. The results show that the Au/ZnO nanoparticle arrays have great potential for future optical devices. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.