Study of optical nonlinearity of CdSe and CdSe@ZnO core-shell quantum dots in nanosecond regime

Thioglycolic acid capped cadmium selenide (CdSe) and CdSe@ZnO core-shell quantum dots have been synthesized in aqueous phase. The sample was characterized by UV-vis spectrophotometer, TEM and Z-scan technique. The nonlinear optical parameters viz. nonlinear absorption coefficient (beta), nonlinear refractive index (n(2)) and third-order nonlinear susceptibilities (chi(3)) of quantum dots have been estimated using second harmonic of Nd:YAG laser. The study predicts that CdSe@ZnO quantum dots exhibits strong nonlinearity as compared to core CdSe quantum dots. The nonlinearity in quantum dots is attributed to the presence of resonant excitation and free optical processes. The presence of RSA in these nanoparticles makes them a potential material for the development of optical limiter.