Linear and nonlinear optical properties of gold nanoparticle-Eu oxide composite thin films

In this work, nanogold particles incorporated onto europium oxide films at levels of 4% and 7% were fabricated by a vacuum evaporation technique on glass and silicon substrates held at 200 °C. Samples were investigated by x-ray diffraction and linear and nonlinear optical absorption. The linear optical absorption data were measured in the UV-visible-near infrared spectral regions and from these data the energy gap and the surface plasmon resonance were determined. The third order nonlinear optical properties of the nanogold particles incorporated onto europium oxide films were measured using the Z-scan technique. Nonlinear absorption and refraction were performed using a continuous wave laser at 633 nm. A large value of third order nonlinearities was obtained with the samples.