Assessment of structural, morphological, and optical properties of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles and MnFe2O4-layered 2D structures elaborated by e-beam technique

In this research, manganese ferrite (MnFe2O4) thin film and spherical nanoparticles were synthesized using the e-beam evaporation type of PVD and sol-gel method, respectively. Also, the effect of morphology on the structural, linear, and nonlinear optical properties of samples was investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were employed to assess the surface morphology of the specimens. The nonlinear optical (NLO) properties were also explored by the Z-scan technique utilizing CW laser at 532 nm. Different incident powers of laser were evaluated during nonlinearity assessments. In this research, MnFe2O4 nanoparticles showed higher nonlinear responses than MnFe2O4 thin film. The nonlinear refractive (NLR) indices and nonlinear absorption (NLA) coefficient of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles were 10(-4) cm(2)/W and 10 W/cm, respectively. The obtained optical nonlinearity can be assigned to the two-photon absorption and the self-focusing effect. In addition, thermal nonlinearity explains the changes in the value of beta and n(2) for MnFe2O4 nanoparticles and thin films. The higher nonlinearity in the nanoparticle sample than thin film can be due to nanoparticle clusters in solution of MnFe2O4. The good nonlinear optical properties of MnFe2O4 indicate that this material can be the promising potential in nonlinear photonic devices.